Figure. Year plan for this program

We work to deepen and extend the international cooperation network of the Graduate School of Education Tohoku University. Upon this basis, we conduct basic research as well as developmental research on the international collaborating joint degree program. Our final goal is to devise a full-fledged joint degree program applying the information we have gathered from short-term programs.

The figure below demonstrates the basic ideas of the program.
We will build close cooperation ties with the external organizations colored in pink. Universities from all East Asia are incorporated in “Cooperating Universities”. These universities are the project’s partners. Cooperation with government agencies and Non-profit organizations is essential for dealing with institutional issues and international student support. The right side “Cooperating Organizations” mostly include international agencies dealing in joint degree development and international student support, which are important for obtaining joint degree development information.
Borrowing the power from such collaborations, in this project, we conduct basic as well as action research for joint degree development.
The part colored in yellow shows the draft of the curriculum. Cooperating with the core universities of this project we work on joint development of systematic curriculum allowing specialized information dissemination and which would center on gaining knowledge through professional education and nurturing the necessary skills and attitude. To gain help on devising such a curriculum we participate in the precedent example of such program in Europe – Erasmus Mundus Project.
The yellow part in the center shows the structure of the curriculum. We will let students do fieldwork based on their knowledge of educational research and techniques, which they will be able to incorporate in their master’s thesis.

Implementation system

Implementation system is as indicated in the figure below.
We will establish “Asia Joint Degree Development Project Department” in the Education Network Center. The leader of this department is also the head of the Education Network Center.
Thus, two committees have been established to promote the project. First is the Project Steering Committee, which is consisted of eight regular committee members, 2 full-time faculties, 2 research fellows and 2 foreign visiting scholars. Steering Committee will be held 2 times per a month and is responsible for establishing mutual understanding of project’s implementation as well as for the actions of the whole project. Second is the General Committee, which is consisted of eighteen Graduate School of Education faculties (some overlap with Steering Committee). General Committee will be held once in two months and confirms as well as advices on business proposals of Steering Committee.