The environment surrounding our university is changing from moment to moment. The turbulent, globalized world we live in is facing diverse problems, while changes are taking place in today's information society at a speed and on a scale never witnessed before. Indeed, the world around us is undergoing tremendous transformation. Humanity throughout the ages has been deeply affected by the advantages and disadvantages of periodic historic change in everyday life. The shift from a hunting and gathering society to one based on agriculture and farming brought stability to life, while at the same time promoted the consumption of plants and other greenery. Society's foundation then shifted to industry with rapid developments in science and technology and their practical applications, leading to vast amounts of fossil fuel consumption and its accompanying negative impacts. At present, the bedrock that supports our society has shifted to information, which has the potential to not only guarantee a convenient and comfortable life, but also bring about changes in society beyond our expectations. While the astounding developments in science and technology that began in the latter half of the 19th century has given rise to a host of problems on a global scale—such as environmental pollution and the depletion of energy resources—they have provided solutions for overcoming these problems. LED lighting is one example that is easy for us to understand. Nevertheless, if we take energy use as an example, the numerous inventions and devices contributing to energy-saving remain at a level far below that is required to keep pace with the increase in gross national product. The 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan of Japan, which was approved by the Cabinet in January 2016, set out a policy for promoting science and technology that will lead to the next-generation information-based society—referred to as a super smart society—that integrates both cyber and real space. The policy also aims to realize the creation of new industries and improvements in productivity, and to solve various socio-economic issues including those stemming from a declining birthrate and aging population. With this understanding, universities must approach the creation and succession of knowledge, in other words research and the development of human resources to build on such research, with a sound vision of the future. The results will be directly linked to the creation of new value and sustainability. In other words, it is necessary for universities to renew their resolve to contribute to society through research and education that provide substantive returns to society.

In specific terms, let us address the problem of the falling birthrate as an example and look at it from the viewpoint of how institutions of higher education should respond. The 18-year-old population of our country in 2005 was 1.37 million, but contracted to 1.19 million in 2016. By 2031, it is forecasted that this population will fail to reach one million, and by 2041 that it will have further contract to somewhere around the 800,000 mark. Population projections are highly accurate, and unless there is some revolutionary technological innovation, a startling change in policy, or a fundamental change in the mindset of the general population, these usually indicate numerical values that will become reality without fail. The declining birthrate and the transition to an information-based society will accelerate change in industrial and employment structures. To consider the number of students who will go on to tertiary education is very important for our university, since we look for students of high quality, particularly those who will pursue the heights of knowledge and are capable of passing on that knowledge. Our conception of the traditional student, i.e., 18-year-olds, will certainly change and include today's non-traditional students such as international students and working adults who wish to return to studies. If we consider our target as not only exchange students from other international universities, but also degree-seeking international students who have completed secondary education or undergraduate education and want to enter undergraduate or graduate courses of Japanese universities, our policy for recruiting students must change. If we set our sights on recruiting such international students, we must consider their post-graduate employment in Japan and improve instruction in Japanese language and culture.

A resolution to establish a new system of higher education for practical vocational training was adopted by the Cabinet and will transform higher education into a two-track system. While this resolution will be the subject of debate in the Diet in the future, discussions at research-oriented universities regarding educational content from a vocational viewpoint also will be necessary. The cornerstone of regional and local development is the guarantee of employment in these areas. While it is presumed that measures to attract existing companies to these areas will not be easy as such companies are mainly led by people who have received a traditional education, I believe it is important that those who are currently or intending to study at universities are able to acquire the skills and educational background (entrepreneurship) to start venture businesses in regional and local areas at least by the time they are active in society. In the so-called super smart society, the way in which people work will change significantly. In companies today, lifelong employment is already becoming a thing of the past. In the future, the employment system will change so that instead of working for a particular company, people in the workforce will participate in a membership-type arrangement where they register their skills and come together to work on necessary projects or businesses. What will be important educationally, therefore, is not what teachers teach, but what students learn.

With regards to the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI), students, rather than studying AI alone at the undergraduate or graduate level, need also to gain an understanding of the field's past and present development, as well as have a firm grounding in mathematics and information science, followed by practice in situ and further study. In the United States, the value for society of persons who study mathematics is increasingly widely-recognized. I believe a complete reexamination of curricula in our country is necessary. While enhancing liberal arts education, which is the comprehensive study of existing knowledge, is important, the development of customized or individualized content is also necessary. In addition, we must review economic support for students, method of distribution of scholarship funds, admission reforms, undergraduate and graduate course linkage (from a 4+2-year to a 3+3-year arrangement), the export of the Japanese education model, and university education from a managerial perspective. We must also develop programs (taking into consideration program content and program length) that are more directly linked to the real world for working persons who want to continue their education.

One important mission of a university is its role as a standard-bearer of university reforms. Even in the case of falling birthrates, there are many more outstanding issues than those mentioned above that need to be discussed. Below I will elaborate on the specific issues and initiatives that require deliberation at our university. In essence, we need to further enhance the quality of our research and education and to increase the efficiency of our resource usage to make this possible.

Improvement in the quality of research

The purpose of universities in terms of providing education is to foster the next generation of leaders not by simply teaching what is written in textbooks, but by imparting knowledge that is backed by advance research including those of their own faculty members. Research content and activities are enhanced by making their results accessible and open, improving the selection process of researchers, providing an environment that allows for ample research time, and enriching the research environment.

While using numbers to assess the results of research does not necessarily guarantee accurate evaluation, quantitative assessments (of each faculty member and organization) may improve research quality in some cases. With this in mind, we established quantitative assessments of our research capabilities. After completing a recent pilot trial, we will adopt quantitative assessments throughout the university from this year. An understanding of the significance of numerical values for each different academic field, such as the number of peer-reviewed papers, the number of international co-authored papers and the number of citations, should help us enhance our research quality. Faculties that feel quantitative values do not adequately reflect quality in their research field must develop indicators to replace these numerical values. In fact, our Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences independently worked together with then Thomson Reuters to develop and implement an assessment system for sports science education and research with global applicability, and is using the results for self-improvement. Furthermore, our Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is also developing an assessment system that focuses on taking into account the diversity of its faculty members' research fields. It is very important to improve research quality by wisely utilizing such indicators and numerical values.

Diversity is also essential for improving research content. Unlike the government and corporate sectors that tend to have more short-term perspectives, universities should look 100 years into the future. Without a doubt, there are many uncertainties about what the world will look like in 100 years. Therefore, diverse approaches are necessary to foresee these uncertainties. From this perspective, basic research, applied research and development research are all necessary, and both discipline-based and interdisciplinary research are vital. I sincerely hope that new academic disciplines will be born from such research at universities. In my annual address last year, I defined the meaning of interdisciplinary research at our university, and gave a proposal for our university's research activities (excerpt from the 2016 president's keynote address: The ultimate significance of "transdisciplinary research" is the creation of new academic disciplines. This does not imply new disciplines strictly within one of the categories of basic, applied, or socially contributive research...We are hoping to proactively redefine our university as the birthplace of new academic disciplines and fields.) The breadth of our research fields, including not only the natural sciences and humanities and social sciences, but also sports science and arts, as well as cooperation among these fields, will define the true value of our future-looking university.

The most significant resources for promoting research are the researchers themselves. The amount of research conducted by a faculty is entirely proportionate to the sum total of practical research hours (number of researchers x research hours/researcher). Similarly, the quality of research in a faculty is proportionate to the practical number of researchers in the same way (actual sum total of research hours of the faculty). However, with the decrease in the base portion of management expense grants for national universities, which is squeezing personnel expense, a change in mindset is necessary to improve the quality of research content, especially when considering our diverse range of academic fields. In addition to the following, I would like to see more ideas forthcoming from all members of our university.

First, we must change from being insular to being transborder. The internal resources of individual national universities are steadily decreasing. If we try to manage our activities by relying solely on our own resources, a reduction in scale will be unavoidable; this will inevitably lead to a decline in quantity and diversity of research. If we set our sights on the outside world beyond conventional borders, we will find that there are still plenty of resources into which we can tap. With joint research across faculties within the university, with other research institutions within Tsukuba Science City, with other universities in Japan and abroad, and beyond the framework of industry-academia-government, we can not only continue research on the same scale, but also conduct leading-edge research from new perspectives.

A shift from the mindset of "education first" to "research first" is also necessary. It goes without saying that pedagogy is vital for university education, but, as I noted earlier, our university is aiming for education backed by leading-edge research. A "research first" mindset must be pervasive throughout the university, and research hours for each and every faculty member must be increased. If each faculty conducts a fundamental review of non-research related work and succeeds in increasing the number of research hours for faculty members, we can improve our research, even when the number of researchers decreases. We also need to pay attention to clarifying the process of and increasing the standards for recruiting faculty members. Moreover, provosts, who are also executive officers of this university, need to make level-headed decisions when promoting and granting tenure.

We must also consider research funding and environment (space, facilities). A transborder perspective may be useful for this as well. For example, preparing applications for outside funding such as Grants-in-aid for Scientific Research tends to be regarded as the work of faculty members. However, this view needs to change, and I would like to see deeper collaboration and cooperation with URAs, the Division of External Funding Management, the Division of Financial Planning and Budget, the Headquarters for International Industry-University Collaboration and the administrators in charge of research support in each academic service offices. For example, we can expect an increase in teams where researchers from different faculties (provision of seeds), administrators from the Division of Financial Planning and Budget and Headquarters for International Industry-University Collaboration (liaison with government agencies and companies) and URAs (gathering materials, preparing applications) join forces to obtain external funds. Establishing a system for applying for and managing external funds through cooperation of researchers and administrators will allow faculty members to spend more time on research itself. An increase in external funds will lead also to an increase in the number of our postdoctoral researchers, which is one of the weaknesses of our university.

In a transborder research environment, promoting open facilities is important. Our university has made progress in making our research equipment available for use. For example, the Tsukuba Innovation Arena (TIA) scheme makes available research equipment to the diverse research institutions within Tsukuba Science City. Another crowning example is our Oakforest-PACS supercomputer, which surpassed the performance of K computer and was registered as the fastest supercomputer in Japan last December. Our Center for Computational Science and the University of Tokyo worked in collaboration to procure parts and launch the supercomputer, and are now jointly operating the supercomputer as well as developing its main user programs. This kind of collaboration is the first of its kind in Japan.

This academic year we must submit our results for the first mid-term period of the Program for Promoting the Enhancement of Research Universities. We must also prepare our proposal for the second term of the program as well. Our aim is to realize a vision for the future development and improvement of our research centers, and to prepare the groundwork for establishing a new type of international joint use/joint research center. At the same time, we intend to improve our research environment and capabilities from the perspectives mentioned above.

Improvement in the quality of education

We must accelerate educational reforms at our university. In the past, we instituted reforms that set precedents for Japanese higher education. We have carried out initiatives that other universities have followed, such as the Admission Center entrance examinations, a diverse range of admissions, including those based on recommendations, undergraduate education based on a diploma program system, transdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs, and an innovative liberal arts education. Prior to the start of our third mid-term plan period, we pressed ahead with preparations for reforms in various areas of education. However, we need to step up the pace of these efforts. For example, creative initiatives are essential for attracting talented international students. While the Office of Global Initiatives has been spearheading international recruitment, full-scale efforts by the Department of Educational Promotion are also essential. The university as a whole must consider ways of improving entrance examinations to better accommodate international candidates. With regards to improving the English proficiency of Japanese students, efforts are being made at the undergraduate level, but further work is necessary at the graduate level. At the same time, as I mentioned earlier, we must make significant improvements in Japanese culture and language education in light of future changes in Japanese employment structure.

While there is some room for improvement in our undergraduate education, we are effectively nurturing students with the specialist skills and knowledge they need. However, we also should pay special consideration to how we can impart students with social and contemporary competencies. This is also related to our plans for implementing cross-disciplinary admissions exams in place of our current discipline-based exams. The merits of the uniquely Japanese system of undergraduate research and seminars are appreciated by many of our international students. We need, however, to think more creatively about subject content and curriculum structure from a student-centered perspective in order to cultivate the necessary abilities, technology, and skills required in the future. Furthermore, I believe we must now consider the introduction of SF terms and liberal arts education based on year of study (or level-based numbering of courses) rather than on each course of study.

A key factor for improving education content is the ability of faculty members to passionately convey the attractiveness of their subject matter and their discipline's leading-edge research. In this regards, I believe that all of our faculty members go to great lengths. In today's global society, we must, however, develop innovative approaches to improving communication skills of our students. This can be supported, for example, by moving from one-way classroom lectures to lessons that incorporate active learning where students learn through group discussions as well as the use of e-learning tools such as manaba to support learning outside of the classroom. All TAs and TFs are taught the basics of this learning tool in TA training workshops. I believe that voluntary participation of faculty members in TA training workshops will further facilitate cooperation with TAs and TFs.

The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has already consulted with the Central Council for Education last month regarding the need for instituting diploma programs to improve university curriculum. One of the fundamental aspects of realizing a diploma program is the change from a faculty-centered to a student-centered approach to education. In the traditional structure of education, there is a tendency to organize the curriculum around what faculty members want to teach or which faculty members are available. In a diploma program, however, the curriculum is developed based on the kind of knowledge and skills that students should acquire for their specific diploma (diploma policy), and on the kind of lessons required for students to acquire these necessary knowledge and skills (curriculum policy). Establishing a diploma policy that is directly linked to the diploma to be conferred is particularly important, and therefore must be thoroughly considered. Traditionally, PhDs are granted to persons with the ability required of a university educator, researcher, or equivalent professionals, that is, professionals who can sufficiently demonstrate originality and creativity. I do not think we should discourage persons with such ability from seeking positions outside academia. Rather, we must pay sufficient attention to whether all graduates of doctoral courses are aiming for such professions or are capable of doing so. As intended, the Program for Leading Graduate Schools, which is designed to nurture students with specialist, professional knowledge and who at the same time can demonstrate their capabilities in other areas, will attract increasing attention from society in the future. Furthermore, in order to make full use of our transdisciplinary education and research, which are our university's unique strengths, and to address the needs of non-traditional students, we need to move to a diploma program system. As we have already established faculty organizations separate from our education programs, we are expected to spearhead the creation of a diploma program-based system.

I believe the issue of human resources is a barrier to implementing the necessary reforms in education that I have described thus far. Improving the quality of education while curbing personnel costs for faculty members will require a change in mindset. The same applies to improvement in research quality. In this respect, a shift from inward-looking to transborder ideas will be effective. By having faculty members teach beyond the parameters of their departments but within the scope of appropriate effort management and course code sharing, by forming partnerships with graduate schools of other universities, research institutions within Tsukuba Science City and companies, and by offering transborder joint degree programs as well as our course jukebox, we will be able to cover the decline in human resources while improving the quality of our educational content. In fact, the prerequisite for the soon to be launched Graduate School of Excellence (provisional name) requires the offering of transborder programs. We need to proceed with preparations promptly. Next, we must change perceptions regarding the scope of our teaching staff, so that we make effective use of diverse experts from industry, government and academia as TFs, part-time lecturers and visiting professors. Furthermore, we must shift from an education-first to a research-first orientation in our approach, and devise specific initiatives to support this change. For example, one idea would be to entrust the management and operation of our educational organizations to senior faculty members or specialist staff. We must also be mindful of selecting our subjects based on the objectives of each program. The number of subjects offered at our university is quite substantial, and this will become a structural problem for our university, which is based on a system of research groups rather than a traditional academic chair system. By pulling together larger subject groups while taking advantage of the merits of our research group-based system, I would like to consider various creative approaches to promoting efficiency that will reduce our faculty members' educational workload and promote course numbering. Such approaches would also eradicate potential interruptions in course offering as a certain number of teachers regularly take sabbatical leave.

When we consider the day-to-day undertaking of education, we must also improve student support. Our university has coined the Japanese expression academic mushashugyo, referring to the old practice of samurai warriors traveling around Japan for combat training. The essence of academic mushashugyo is encouraging students to become independent and active in their own education. For students, a university is a place for exploring who they are as individuals, for giving serious thought to what they should do with their life, and for learning discipline and accumulating experiences to gain the answers to these questions. During their academic mushashugyo, students must decide what challenges and risks they will take on, and must personally produce their own plans and arrangements. It does not matter whether these actions succeed or fail, but whether students are able to fully experience their academic life, society and country, and to learn from these experiences. The results will also form the foundation of their university education, which is to explore and to learn through hard work. As cuts in management expense grants continue, our basic policy is to continue increasing student support, even if only marginally. Our project "Spread your wings and fly! University of Tsukuba Students" is part of this policy. Moreover, the Global Commons has dispatched Area Commons personnel to each Academic Services Office. It is important not only to enhance academic mushashugyo for students, but also to enhance the ability of each Academic Services Office to promote global exchange. Last year, the Center for Diversity, Accessibility and Career Development surveyed firms who have hired our graduates about how well they are doing at their jobs. The responses were positive. The first stage of the Global Village complex was also completed last year. We firmly believe that such dormitories where Japanese and international students share accommodations will provide cross-cultural experiences and make internationalism a part of students' everyday life.

I have described various approaches to enhancing research and education quality. I also believe that these initiatives will undoubtedly be reflected in our international assessments. In February of this year, the University of Tsukuba was ranked as the 141st most international university in the world (2nd in Japan) by Times Higher Education World University Rankings. This is one such example, and I believe it is a reflection of the transborder research and education activities that all of our faculty members and administrators have been promoting over the years.

Management through cooperation among faculty members and teaching staff

To promote research and education that will define our university, we need to give adequate thought to improving our financials, facilities and infrastructures, personnel management, risk management, academic information management, and initiatives that support these measures. With regards to the management of our university, we must also consider the University of Tsukuba Hospital and the activities of our diverse affiliated primary and secondary schools.

First, I would like to share with you my understanding of management expense grants for higher education institutions in Japan. From this academic year, based on the evaluation of the results of the Second Mid-term Plan, part of the management expense grants will be reallocated. The reallocation rate for our university that is based on this assessment is 91.7%, representing an 8.3% cut. The amount of the funds and mechanism for redistribution are as follows. Basically, the amounts are based on MEXT's framework for Enhancing the Functions of National Universities. This framework stipulates coefficients for reducing management expense grants, which are (1) 0.8%, (2) 1.0%, (3) 1.6% for each of the three categories of national universities: (1) contributing to regional society, (2) national-level, (3) global-level, respectfully. Management expense grants are reduced by these coefficients and approximately half of the reduced amount will be redistributed to universities based on the assessment of MEXT's targeted support scheme. Therefore, 0.8% (half of 1.6%) of the management expense grant to our university is reduced by 8.3%, leading to a reduction of a little over 0.06% (about 20 million yen). On the other hand, the amount we received in Enhancing the Function of National University funds exceeded this amount. However, these funds come with strings attached in terms of how they can be used, and thus the basic portion of the management expense grants was still reduced by 1.6%. As this basic portion supports our universities research and education, this reduction requires a change in our mindset if we are to achieve our mid-term plan's key performance indicators (KPI).

With the understanding that the basic portion of the management expense grants essentially supports personnel expenses, reducing the number of faculty members and administrators without employment term limitations is essential. This means that we must address this decline in personnel with strategic recruitment using funds from the Enhancing the Function of National Universities program. The persons hired will have to have a high level of research and education capabilities. At the same time, a number of our initiatives for earning funds are just beginning to produce significant results. One of these is the promotion of industry-university collaboration. Two years ago, we established the Headquarters for International Industry-University Collaboration, and appointed a new executive officer to take charge of industry-university collaboration. We also made efforts to promote large-scale joint research with the private sector and to expand private funding. Recently, MEXT announced the results of its annual survey on the status of industry-university collaboration, targeting more than 1,000 institutions including universities. The survey indicated that our university had the second largest average annual growth in private-sector joint research (35.2% between FY2010 to FY2015). Furthermore, our joint research with international firms also expanded significantly, with the amount of funds received in AY2015 growing approximately ten-fold from AY2014. As a result, our ranking in this measure rose from 16th in 2014 to 2nd in Japan. We have also made great progress in establishing research and development centers, with the opening of the Algae Biomass and Energy System R&D Center last year and the R&D Center for Precision Medicine in January of this year. The R&D Center for Sports Innovation and R&D Center for Strategic Frontiers in Social Planning will open in April of this year. Separate from the Headquarters for International Industry-University Collaboration, we are establishing the R&D Center for Sports Innovation to prepare for a university-administration led center for sports, sports risk management, anti-doping, and profit-making activities. In this manner, we are making steady progress in developing profit-making programs (extension programs) that actively make use of our education and research activities, and in promoting crowdfunding of our activities in collaboration with a crowdfunding company. We expect significant results in the future. The partial amendment of the National University Corporation Act, which became effective in April of this year, included provisions that relax how national universities can use their real estate. Taking advantage of this, we have begun discussions to construct a multipurpose arena which will be managed by an external operator. In the future, we must not only match seeds with needs, but also collaborate with industries to tackle the major questions society faces today. To further invigorate industry-university collaboration, the Office of Cooperation and External Affairs, whose chain of command has never been clear, has been renamed the Office of Development and placed under the Headquarters for International Industry-University Collaboration.

While funding for human resources is tight, the work load involved in managing and operating our university is increasing. It is essential that we streamline the work of faculty members and administrators who are becoming increasingly burdened with a multitude of duties. The basic form of governance of administrative organizations (departments and divisions) is a discipline-based, vertically-divided system. Such an organizational structure provides some stability of operations. Responding to the rapid and never-ceasing changes both in Japan and aboard, however, requires new tasks for which national universities are not now in the position to fully staff. Furthermore, much of the work is complex in nature. There is also an increasing number of cases where work cannot be handled by a single administrative organization alone. To deal with work of this nature, it is necessary for administrators to work across departmental and divisional borders in teams. Many such teams, which are ad hoc in nature, will disband immediately after their task is completed. Please try to envision the Japanese national team at the WBC. This is an approach that has been adopted not only in Europe and the United States, but also by major companies in Japan.

Promoting cooperation between faculty members and administrators is important. In the past, there was a tendency to form one organization for faculty members and another for administrators to deal with specific issues. However, it is more efficient in terms of both human resources and time spent on the tasks for faculty members and administrators to engage in problem resolution under one roof. Already, the Office of Public Relations, Office of Conflict of Interest and Security Export Control, and the DAC Center (Center for Diversity, Accessibility and Career Development) are permanent cooperative organizations with both faculty members and administrators. The Information Governance Infrastructure Office is an example of such cooperation, but operates without any full-time staff as faculty members and administrators from multiple organizations devote a certain portion of their time to the duties of this organization. In a similar manner, we hope to apply AI to information governance with the collaboration of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research, which will begin operating this year. The Office of Global Initiatives has adopted already a similar arrangement. However, to implement global strategies more efficiently, a team or conference entity composed of members from multiple headquarter organizations to share information and line of command is necessary. This entity will be, in a sense, an extended version of the steering committee for the Top Global University Project (SGU).

We need to change the way we think about the role of faculty members and administrators in today's environment. By this, I mean the mindset that administrators are essentially responsible for operations and management, while faculty members establish the frameworks. Although research and educational activities are the key roles of faculty members, it is not necessary to entrust the management of research and education to them alone. Traditionally, it has been customary for administrators to exercise reserve toward faculty members and to take initiative only after receiving directives from them. However, administrators should take a more active role in managing research and education. With regards to the legal issues regarding the allocation of roles for such tasks, we have put forward a proposal to MEXT, and preparations are already underway. One of the roles of our university is to take the lead in such issues. It is necessary to strengthen FD and SD activities and to consider and research collaboration among faculty members and administrators. If reforms are achieved in this manner, faculty members will be able to devote more time to research and education, and at the same time administrators will find their work more rewarding. Ultimately, this will increase the strength of our university.

In addition, there is a third type of position beyond faculty members or administrators (or perhaps, a position which is both academic and administrative). This position will be filled by persons that hold a post-graduate degree, have a deep understanding of research and education and have received training in university management. This is exactly the type of human resource that is lacking in today's corporatized national universities. As the 2018 problem becomes more imminent, in addition to training URAs whose role is to develop strategies for research activities from the perspective of university management, determining how to develop human resources who will fulfill similar roles for managing entrance examinations, student support, internationalization, and industry-university collaboration is a pressing issue. Japan, as a whole, needs to consider the status and career path of this third role, and must prepare measures for its realization.

Furthermore, advancing efforts to promote diversity not only with regards to gender but also age, special needs, and nationalities will make it possible to utilize the maximum potential of every member of our university. This will also increase the well-being of all members, and create new ways of working. In March, as president of the university, I joined the "Declaration on Action" by a group of male leaders promoting "A Society in which Women Shine," and took this opportunity to articulate a message promoting diversity. With the rapid increase in globalization and diversification of values, increasing the diversity of our university community is essential for the development of our university and its culture.

The mission of the University of Tsukuba Hospital, with its designation as an advanced treatment hospital, is to provide advanced medical care and develop medical technology. The development of medical robots and revolutionary cancer treatment (BNCT) are two typical manifestations of this mission. Another mission of our hospital is to link fundamental research to clinical medicine. A project led by T-CReDO was selected this year for funding from the Project of Translational and Clinical Research Core Centers sponsored by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). Since our hospital is the sole medical center that offers advanced treatment within Ibaraki prefecture, it must fulfill its medical service obligations in northern Kanto and southern Tohoku regions, including, of course, in Tsukuba City and Ibaraki Prefecture. As many international researchers live in our city, the hospital most also play a leading role in providing medical services to their families as well. Furthermore, reforms in hospital management are necessary to create an environment where medical care providers, including doctors, are happy to work.

The primary and secondary schools affiliated with our university are in the process of educational reforms including setting targets in three areas: pioneering education, teacher training, international education. With our mission to spearhead education reforms, it is imperative that these schools are strongly conscious of their affiliation to our university. Introducing global education and promoting inclusive education, which promotes diversity awareness, are good examples of practices reflecting this awareness. Furthermore, I believe that experimental initiatives at both our affiliated schools and our university will accelerate reforms. One example relates to the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. The University of Tsukuba Senior High School at Sakado recently received accreditation for an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). Furthermore, a master's program for training teachers in IB education will begin this April at our university. This program will not only nurture IB teachers, but also leaders in diverse emerging sectors. Furthermore, a high school in Tsukuba City will launch an IB programme as well. Instead of having these programs develop individually, we should aim for significant synergy through dynamic collaboration. In fact, we should consider establishing a doctoral course to further develop IB education in areas such as special needs in the future.

Looking ahead to the future

I have asked the Office for Corporate Strategy, which was established last year, to conceptualize our university 10 to 20 years from now. At this time, I would like to share with you a number of changes set to take place in the near future.

At a time when management expense grants from the government are decreasing, national universities are under pressure to increase their own revenue. In the future, joint research with companies, and collaboration with alumni will become vital for university operations. In addition to invigorating industry-academia collaboration, we are deepening collaboration with our most trusted university alumni. In January of this year, the University of Tsukuba Alumni Association was happy to welcome our former president, Dr. Leo Esaki, as its chairman. This association endeavors to maintain a lifetime bond with the University of Tsukuba and between members, make efforts to revitalize exchanges among generations and academic disciplines of alumni, and carry out support activities that will enhance the university and the lives of individual members. Not only university alumni, but current students, and past, present and future faculty members and administrators are also eligible to join. I urge all of you to do so.

The ground breaking ceremony for the Tsukuba Science City Development Project was held almost 50 years ago in 1969. Many research institutions, training institutions and government and corporate offices, including the University of Tsukuba have set up facilities in the city since then, making Tsukuba Science City the largest science hub in Japan and a vibrant center for joint research and education. However, the Science City's contribution to resolving today's societal problems and science and technology issues cannot be said to be adequate. For this reason, we are building on our Tsukuba Global Science Week, which we will host for the 8th time this year, to launch the Tsukuba Conference in 2019. This conference will bring together many young researchers and graduate students from Japan and abroad to deliberate social issues and the science needed to resolve this issues. To begin preparations for this conference, we established a team of faculty members and administrators this year. We look forward to your cooperation and support.

Finally, I would like to express my thoughts about the future of our university. In the approximate 150 years since the latter half of the 1800s, many indexes have changed drastically and at a similar growth rate. These include CO₂ concentration, population, life expectancy, and as I described in the beginning, GNP. There are many others as well. There is no need to debate the causal relationship among the development of industry and economy, improvement in food availability and hygiene, and advances in transportation and distribution. These are all interrelated and linked with changes in the above-mentioned indexes. In fact, what brought about these changes can be measured on a scale. From the viewpoint of building a prosperous future, the measurement of the increase and decrease in values of such factors that impact change is important and should be sufficient. Quantity and quality can to some extent be paraphrased as material and spirit. It is important for those of us who play a part in higher education to consider, at least, the dignity and grace of learning, education, science and technology. This is the necessary fundamental mindset for faculty members and administrators of our university, which has the legacy of being modern Japan's oldest institution of higher educational and also of having been reborn as the nation's newest comprehensive national research university and standard bearer of university reform. We should all be proud to be members of our university, and endeavor to support our country and work towards bringing about a brighter future through our research and education activities. I appreciate the opportunity to share these ideas with you, and look forward to paving the way together toward the future of research and education.