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
While starting study here, I was first very pressured how things work here so it took me some time to get used to the system, the people and what was expected of me. After my first semester I became even more aware about myself and trusted my abilities and skills even more than I did already before. A very big contribution was the experience of living abroad as well by my best friend in the UK. Because I am currently working on scholarship applications to stay longer in Japan, I see my path more clearer because I needed to do more reflection on my values I live by and what it can do for my future professional career. Even though I know getting into the scholarships is very difficult I have more insurance and trust in my abilities and skills to find even a way to stay longer in Japan without the scholarship money. It will work out in my way, I am more sure about that. Fortunately, I did not had major set backs to get back up again but the small "failures" or learning experiences in the intercultural context made me really resilient towards everything that I am working on right now as well as my future goals.
Resilience
From an holistic point of view, I think the whole academic environment helped me to think differently. From the moment I joined my Lab (AECAL), until recently, when our Graduate School moved to OIC, I always see something new that inspires me: experiments, projects, facilities, international gatherings... I guess diversity (as a key factor for innovation) is what had mostly influenced my way of thinking.
Innovation
The competency which I believe I have acquired is innovation. In this case, I learn Python programming language and applies it to my work and research The situation that motivated me to acquire it is as follow:I used to work at a tax consultancy as a researcher. I wrote reports on our clients' industrial performance in the previous fiscal year. The reports were then integrated into our clients' tax reports.One day, my friends who are hired at the same time as me got promoted, while I did not. At that time, I felt that it was unfair, because I worked as hard and as smart as them. But then I realize that they were hired as consultants, while I was hired as a researcher. It means that for the company, my position was not as important as them.That event motivated me to learn Python programming language to bring something new to the table and make my position more irreplaceable. After learning it and work in a new place, I created several programming scripts that allow my team to achieve better results at shorter time period. It also allows us to explore new things that was not possible before.
Innovation
Last November, together with the other laboratory members, we went to a research facility in Tsukuba to do an experiment for a week. We had made a schedule to divide the work. As usual, even if we already scheduled everything in detail, there must be unpredictable conditions. We planned to do the experiments the next day after we arrived but for some reason, we had to start the experiment earlier than the scheduled. Because of this, there is a major change to the schedule. I always said that if there is anything I can help please don’t hesitate to contact me. Even though I am not able to provide meaningful help because of the language barrier, my friends always appreciate my initiative. Finally, we acquired the data safely. Thus, after this event, I felt that we were getting closer to each other.
Teamwork
I need to understand my academic affairs that is changing over time. Now, I am doing some kind of research related to microeconomics. To analyze the microeconomics' affair, I need to have stronger understanding on not only my study area, such as local context, but also technical affairs. Nowadays, everything is changing very quickly, and following the old model or method is not enough to analyze and evaluate current modern affairs. I have to study/ learn a lot to get better and advanced knowledges and technical skills and to know better understanding on my study areas.
Understanding
My interdisciplinary background has indeed gradually given me the ability to think scientifically, especially at the Master's level. As I learnt about different fields (politics and economics, humanities and the arts, social history, etc.), I realised that instead of trusting news and opinions from the news or the internet as I did when I was in my teens, I would think about the ideas that I was exposed to, or even once firmly believed, and weigh the pros and cons of them from both sides of the fence. Instead of being biased and making absolute judgements about things, I get comprehensive results from multiple perspectives and contexts, and consider how and why the information was combined.
Understanding
From my interactions with my friends, I realized that I'm more connected with people who likes to argue and debate ideas. Until now, my closest friends are the ones who are open minded and likes to argue about anything. We can argue about almost anything, from religion, philosophy, science, government policy, and even anime characters. Since we hate to lose debate, we always try to refine our logic and understanding so that we can win the next time we enter into a debate. I think our mutual traits as well as the high frequency of interactions allow us to think more objectively about many things and to look at things from multiple perspective.
Understanding
To understand oneself is a very difficult thing to do. While it is important to reflect on one's behavior, it cannot be done too often, as rumination is damaging to mental health. Thus, it is important to have lived experiences, and spend a minority of the time reflecting. However, this time reflecting is crucial to understanding yourself. When I first came to Japan, I was 22 years old. I didn't know much about the country or life in general, but I said "yes" to almost every opportunity I had. Because I did this, I had a lot of content to reflect on. When living in a foreign country, you must push yourself. When you push yourself, you can learn a lot about who you are and your limits after reflecting on your experiences.
Self-efficacy
After getting my master degree from Faulty of computers and Artificall Intellgence - Cairo University . My dream to complete my post studies overseas so I applied for JICA- ABE and also fulbright . The rule in my job is , they must recommend the scholare so I didnt get the recommendation in the year 2022 and also I didnt get accepetence from fulbright . but in the 2023 I reapplied and I got accepetcnce from JICA and also accepetence from university in Gulf countries. but my dream was Japan so I choose to travel to Japan desit of it is Master scholarship and I already had master degree.
Initiative