Episode
The eight competencies developed at Ritsumeikan Academy.
We introduce how they are developed through daily experiences, along with diverse episodes.
*These episodes are based on responses actually submitted by students at every level of education—including elementary, junior high, and high school students, as well as university and graduate students—in the Quantitative Survey for Ritsumeikan Academy Competency Framework conducted in the 2024 academic year. Information that could identify individuals has been removed or modified before publication.
Competency
Episode
- Classes
- StudyAbroad
- ExtracurricularActivities
- ClubsAndSocieties
- StudyingOutsideOfClass
- Research
- SchoolEvents
- ExtracurricularLessons
- Community
- Family
- FriendsAndPeers
- TeachersAndMentors
- Goals
- Effort
- Achievement
- Growth
- Collaboration
- SeekingAdvice
- GivingUp
- Worries
- Happiness
- Anxiety
- Confidence
- Change
- EntranceExamsAndQualifications
- JobHuntingAndInternships
- PartTimeJobs
I learned how to conduct scientific experiments and extract new insights from the process. In this way, I learned that my intuitions and initial guesses could be wrong, and I might constantly fail to finally understand the problems and come up with solutions. It was hard to maintain strong mental health during everything. Then I learned that failure is not a bad thing; it is a way for the research subject to tell its story, and I will understand more about the subject after each failure. It will refine my hypothesis and my knowledge. To balance learning and processing new information from experiments, I usually use the school gym as a way to escape from lab work, allowing my brain to go into diffused mode, which greatly benefits me in refining ideas and concepts. Sometimes I use different working spaces on campus to achieve a fresh working mode.
Resilience
I am an overthinker therefore I always think about my troubles and failures even my successes in detail.
Resilience
Resilience has been learned throughout the entirety of my life. I have constantly experienced troubles and failures in my life, but eventually, I learned that there is no such thing as failure as long as you keep trying. Failure is when you completely give up, learning is when you make mistakes and correct them. As long as you experience troubles and try to learn from them, you will never fail. I will provide an example. Unfortunately, I have had three friends pass away due to problems with mental health. While this profoundly affected me, I learned the importance of taking care of my own self and how to continue living even when life is difficult. Though there are many other examples of hardships in my life, this one stands out as a recent example, and I strengthened my resilience by living through this experience.
Resilience
I learned this during my first year of study when I was really stressed out in this lab. However, with the support of the student support room, seniors, and my family, I was able to calm down and realize that my stress was caused by trying to please my professors and doing things I didn't like. After I understood this, I started working as much as I could and focused on doing what I was good at.
Self-efficacy
During my two experiences of studying in foreign countries, in the UK and Japan, I had to adapt to the local life and get used to it quickly while I was studying. In terms of language, daily life and learning style. In fact, studying abroad is a very stressful experience in itself. Although familiarising myself with the local customs and ways of interacting with people and learning to use the school's facilities and help were not that difficult in themselves, adapting and solving problems at the same time within a limited period of time was a real new challenge for me. Compared to my first master's degree and my current study life, I have really improved a lot, being able to work independently and efficiently in multiple threads, organising my time and energy rationally, and facing challenges in many aspects at the same time.
Multitasking
I am currently pursuing my PhD, and throughout my research, I have faced numerous challenges, including many failed experiments. Living abroad and dealing with the pressures of research, along with concerns about the future, has often left me feeling frustrated. During these difficult times, I have been fortunate to have the unwavering support of my professor, assistant professor, and administrative staff. Their encouraging words and moral support have been invaluable, helping me navigate my research and motivating me to achieve my goals, making life in Japan much easier.
Initiative
Since I was a kid, I have always loved talking and playing with other people around me. Back in the days, I spent a lot of time hanging out with my friends and sharing daily events around me with them. We went to each other houses and played card together while talking about our days at school. I was considered as a smart kid back then, especially in English so my friends would come and ask me about English homework. I enjoyed sharing what I knew with them because I found I could be helpful to them. Another thing which I am really good at is giving pieces of advice for relationships. Many of my friends ask me for bits of advice regarding relationships with their loved ones or even disliked ones. I think it is because I am good at listening and I often give them ideas which they never think about. I also do not have much conflicts with anybody as if something goes wrong, I am always the one who say sorry and show attitudes to move toward a better things. I do not like fighting and quarelling against anybody and anythings. That might be because I am afraid to be hurted and hurt other people. My friends tell me I am easy to cry whenever I feel sad. I do not like but also not hate this part of me. Because I do not like the feeling to be hurted and sad so I always careful with words and actions in order not to hurt anyone. And thus that makes me good at talking and building relationships with others. I have always enjoyed playing and chatting with those around me, even as a little child. I used to hang out with my pals a lot and tell them about the things that happened in my life. We visited one other's homes and played cards while discussing our school days. Back then, I was thought to be a bright child, particularly in English, so my buddies would come to me with English homework questions. I discovered that I could be of assistance to them, therefore I appreciated sharing my knowledge with them. My ability to offer relationship counsel is another one of my strong points. A lot of my friends ask me for small pieces of advice about how to interact with their loved ones or even those they don't like. I believe it's because I listen well and frequently offer them options that they would never consider. Additionally, I don't have many disagreements with people since I'm the one who constantly apologizes and adopts a positive outlook in order to make things better. I don't enjoy arguing and fighting with people or things. This may be because I'm scared of getting hurt and hurting other people. According to my friends, I cry easily when I'm depressed. Although I dislike this aspect of myself, I also do not despise it. I always take care with my words and actions to avoid hurting anyone because I dislike the feeling of being unhappy and wounded. As a result, I'm skilled at interacting with people and establishing rapport.
Empathy
Since I'm an international student, I'm basically living alone in Japan with no family or relatives. The first 6 months after coming to Japan, I went through the adjustment phases which was challenging and sometimes exhausting both physically and mentally. I started to understand that self-assurance by understanding yourself is a very important part in facing problems in life. My interest in psychology basically helped me in reaching self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy
I feel like this past year, and specifically these past 2 semesters, a lot have happened to me. I took on harder courses and I had to move out of the dorm and navigate house-hunting and moving as an international student with low Japanese proficiency. Additionally, I faced a few relationship struggles and had to cut off a few friends due to conflicts in mindset and their behaviors. All of these struggles were happing around June to August - also a time in which mid-terms and finals at school were conducted. I was very stressed, about school, finding a part-time job, finding a house and dealing with toxic friends. Retrospectively, I am impressed I was able to pull myself through such situations. I suppose I could do so by setting more realistic academic goals after periods of burnout, looking for help for house-hunting from Japanese-proficient friends and talking to - cutting off toxic friends. My life and my decisions during this period, has reinforced my resilience as an international in Japan.
Resilience