SD Seminar for AY 2020 "International Politics and Higher Education after COVID-19: Changing World, Changing Universities"

The University of Tsukuba's Global Commons held the online Staff Development Seminar for AY 2020 "International Politics and Higher Education after COVID-19: Changing World, Changing Universities" presented by Specially Appointed Professor KIJIMA Joji, Doctor of international politics on October 8, 2020.

In the seminar, Prof. KIJIMA introduced some research findings from the research project "Fundamental changes in knowledge brought about by COVID-19" (Representative: Associate Professor OHNIWA Ryosuke) as part of the "Employing the university wisdom to fight against the COVID-19 crisis" program. He explained from concrete cases that the plague in the fourteenth century and the pandemic of the early twentieth-century Spanish flu had changed the world and that the global hegemony could move in this COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, he explained the present conditions of Indo-Pacific security and university security and risk management and concluded that it was necessary to think about Japan's response to the hegemony dispute among the great powers.

There was a lively online question and answer session, which showed the attendees' high interest. Many questions were asked such as "Whither neo-liberalism?", "How did political and cultural differences affect the COVID-19 pandemic?", "How did each country take the border measures for preventing infection spread?", and others.

To promote the concept of "internationalization as a part of everyday life", the Global Commons will continue to take various measures.