Message from Dean

The late twentieth century was hectic and complex in every sense. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War suddenly came to an end. This allowed the leaders of the countries in Europe to discuss the possibility of a European Union with totally new perspectives. And in parallel at that time, some environmental issues, which include abrupt climate change, were squarely put in the public eye. People in the world realized that the planet had some issues that no single country was able to cope with. The rapid development of the Internet accelerated the discussion of a borderless world. Global Communication is a relatively young academic field which sprouted in the rapidly and drastically changing societies. It is an interdisciplinary approach to the global issues, and this well explains why Akita International University as an international liberal arts college has a graduate school in this field.

Why “global” instead of “international?” This is one of the most frequently asked questions. One viable answer to this question may lie in the morphological structures of these two words. The word “international” has “nation” as its word root, while the word stem of “global” is “globe.” Global Communication discusses political, economic, and cultural alliances (sometimes conflicts) on a global scale.

The Graduate School of Global Communication and Language has three programs. Although each program has its goal and targeted professions, the knowledge and skills that all students are expected to equip themselves with are integrated and offered in common courses. In this interdisciplinary graduate school, students are allowed to count up to 9 credits (equivalent to 3 courses) from other programs toward the completion of their master’s degree.

We would like to invite you to our global community where students from Japan and the rest of the world are cultivating an art with meaningful collaboration.

Hiroki UCHIDA
Dean of the Graduate School of Global Communication and Language