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

School Type

Clear selection

Living alone abroad gave me a lot of time to reflect on my passions, interests, and where I want to go next in life. It is through these reflections that I began to understand myself and the processes throughout my lifetime that made me who I am today.

Self-efficacy

By friends and others around me I was able to acquire the self-efficiency. Living in different countries also made me change my mindset to believe in myself and try new things.

Self-efficacy

When I first had a report reviewed by a professor in pbl in first year, he said I needed to try hard more. However, I already gave my best and I lost hope. Then, I realized that I was studying the wrong way so I changed the way I do things.

Self-efficacy

My friends tell me that I need to see things from different angles when things are difficult.

Understanding

Last two semesters, I took courses that were very teamwork heavy, and I had a fair share between good teamwork experiences and terrible ones. Working with responsible and insightful peers enabled me to learn more not about the topic the team has to cover but also new perspectives and skills from my friends. Working with irresponsible and lackluster teammates, however, sharpened my leadership skills and my resilience as I worked alone and carried the teamwork most of the time, despite motivating and calling on my teammates.

Teamwork

I think its mostly because I'm mostly in the group works and team working inside and outside the class and I noticed that after doing that more, I noticed that I got a lot better in interacting in groups and producing better outcomes.

Teamwork

I felt that bad teammates in projects are not that bad but I realized that by relying less on them and more on others, the project moved forward a lot better and quicker.

Teamwork

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

My grade for Spring 2024 was not the best, especially after getting a high GPA the previous semester (Fall 2023). My life basically dropped for a few days, but from that fall down, I started to feel more motivated and reflective of my life. I decided that rather than focusing on the bad things I should instead avert my mind towards the positive things and change my perspectives. I remember one quote; "don't focus on the past or you'll miss the future." So, I decided to move on and do my best, and even if I fail that just mean that I have to try again.

Resilience