GLA Collaborates with Ritsumeikan Keisho High School and St. Xavier's College on New Overseas Train…

　The College of Global Liberal Arts (GLA) implemented a new overseas training program in collaboration with Ritsumeikan Keisho High School and St. Xavier's College (Nepal).

　GLA aims to “produce the global leaders of the 21st century” through liberal arts. The academic programs in the College emphasize the importance of skills such as the ability to independently pose questions, conduct research, and conceive and execute plans, all of which are necessary to the development of global leaders. Ritsumeikan Keisho High School has also long focused on overseas training to foster this kind of research. As part of a comprehensive Academy that supports continuing education from affiliated schools to the University, GLA has developed a new program by pairing its “Special Lecture on Cosmopolitan Studies I” with Ritsumeikan Keisho High School’s overseas training program. The paring advances the global context of Ritsumeikan’s university-high school continuing education program, and cultivate global leaders with research ability from an early stage. On this program, GLA students, students from Ritsumeikan Keisho High School, and students from St. Xavier’s College in Nepal engaged in collaborative learning in English for approximately five months, including on-site training in Kathmandu and other locations.

　Nepal is one of the 46 least developed countries (LDCs) in the world. Given that many donor states provide the country with assistance, the program began with the question of whether it is appropriate to think of international relations in terms of donors and aid recipients. St. Xavier's College, the in-country partner in this program, attracts intellectually elite students with a wide variety of social backgrounds from all 77 districts of Nepal. Ritsumeikan students worked with them to conduct a literature survey and hold group discussions on the topic of how to achieve cooperation, centered on the four issues of aid, human rights, the environment, and tourism.