Temple University's Japan Campus:
30 Years of Promoting Global Citizenship Through Education

In 2012 Temple University's Japan Campus (TUJ) celebrates its 30th year of providing unique educational and research opportunities to students and faculty from around the world as the oldest, largest and leading foreign institution of higher education in Japan. I want to begin this message by extending my gratitude to all our alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff and everyone in the TUJ family whose support has enabled our success.

Temple University, a state-related, public university in Philadelphia, was the first American university to realize the importance of having a presence in Japan at a time when Japan was reaching the pinnacle of international prominence following three decades of the postwar economic miracle. Temple's example was soon followed by many other American universities who also wanted to ride Japan's wave. Unfortunately, when that wave crashed in the post-bubble crisis of the early 1990s, other American university campuses disappeared from Japan.

TUJ is the only American university undergraduate and graduate program remote campus that has persevered with Japan, in Japan and in many ways, for Japan, through its travails from the "lost decade" of the 1990s to the tragedy of the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. That TUJ remains in Japan is a testament to Temple University's commitment to Japan and to international higher education. Over the years TUJ has developed into a unique institution that is simultaneously a self-funding campus of Temple University that directly admits its own students and confers Temple University baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees; while also serving the needs of the local community through its Continuing Education and other outreach programs, and the needs of corporations from several countries through its Corporate Education Division.

Leading a world-wide trend, TUJ has a long-standing commitment to a practical liberal arts philosophy in all its undergraduate majors, including Japanese language, International Business Studies and Communication, Art and Design. TUJ's mission is to use its resources to instill in its students attributes and abilities such as lifelong education, personal responsibility, deep learning, communication abilities and critical thinking, i.e., to develop "good citizens". By good citizens we mean people who are aware of the individual's importance to the society around them and are therefore motivated to create public goods for the betterment of themselves, their institutions and the society as a whole. In this way TUJ contributes to developing a global society both in terms of economic competitiveness and personal success.

There are two hallmarks of institutions that lead; they adapt to changing circumstances and they get stronger at times of crisis. The world is in the middle of a period of significant change manifested by continuing development of communication and information technologies as well as a continuing crisis in the global economy. Everyone is searching for a new way forward and Japan in particular is struggling to find its new place in this changing world. In this time of challenge and opportunity TUJ must lead by example as an international institution of higher education that can serve Japan and the world's changing needs.

With the strategic plan firmly in place that capitalizes on our 30 years of history, TUJ is committed to fulfill its commitment to leadership, for many more years to come.

January 2012

Bruce Stronach
Dean, Temple University, Japan Campus