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
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
I think the second greatest degree is Teamwork. Now, I am living in BKC I-house and there are a lot of events here. Therefore, it requires to work together and understand each other. For example, there is a winter party today. Some I-house residents including me are asked to cook food or dessert from our own country. Thus, we discuss and help each other to conduct this event. Besides, we also discuss with each other about the next event and so on.
Teamwork
During my PhD journey, I honed my multitasking skills by managing various responsibilities simultaneously. I balanced conducting research, writing papers, attending classes, and participating in conferences while also fulfilling personal obligations. One notable instance was during the preparation for a conference presentation while revising a research paper for resubmission. To manage both effectively, I created a structured schedule, prioritizing tasks based on deadlines and importance. By allocating focused time to each task and maintaining flexibility, I successfully completed both. This experience enhanced my ability to address multiple issues in a well-balanced way, ensuring quality work under tight schedules.
Multitasking
As a member of Wadaiko Raku at APU, I was preparing for the Tenku festival performances while balancing work, classes, tests, relationships, leading, and my health due to an injury. While this greatly relied on my resilience, I feel like my multi-tasking ability was improved to the greatest degree. We practiced taiko tirelessly for many months every single day, in between classes, during off-days, despite sickness, alongside assignment and project deadlines too. I feel our performance was a great success, and I did well in all of my classes, despite struggling a lot.
Multitasking
I believed my teamwork grew a lot because I did a lot of extracurricular events that made me focus on teamwork, such as when I helped BBP carry out the stall on school festival day.
Teamwork
I learned how initiate events and plans within my family and school, and improved my overall initiative skills in those places.
Initiative
I think I acquired to the greatest degree in resilience through the Koufusai Preparation after the summer holiday. As I helped in the preparation and planning team of the class event, I faced several troubles such as not having much time left, different opinions within class, and the financial aspects. Through this experience, I learned the importance of having responsibility and communication, which built my resilience.
Resilience