On the weekend of August 22nd and 23rd, Showa Women’s University once again held its Open Campus event. Booths representing the various faculties and departments of the university were arrayed within 80th Anniversary Hall, with faculty, staff, and students ready to explain their respective curricula to visiting high school students and their parents.
Introducing the Department of International Studies
Open campus is an opportunity to share information about our curricula directly and in-person to high school students interested in an academic career at Showa.
The Department of International Studies (DIS) booth was kept busy by many visitors, including students who expressed interest in applying for admission to the department through the Admissions Office interview system. Distinctive features of DIS include our extensive and varied study abroad program and our “English plus one” dual foreign language curriculum, and visiting students typically expressed strong interest in both.
Our 3rd year student assistants cheerfully provided first-hand information about course requirements and foreign study. Faculty members were involved in answering student queries, arranging Admissions Office pre-interview screening, and giving demonstration classes; Hirota-sensei gave a model Spanish class on Saturday, and Seo-sensei gave a Korean class on Sunday. And as always, our office assistants kept everything running smoothly and efficiently with their thorough preparation and constant attention to detail.
Our Vietnamese language program will start next April!
A point of difference in Open Campus this year is the launch of DIS’s Vietnamese language program in April of 2016, which includes a course of study at Vietnam National University in Hanoi. Vietnamese joins English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean in the DIS curricula, reflecting the importance of acquiring both cultural knowledge and language skills as means to further international understanding.
We hope this new program generates interest along with our other courses of study, and we look forward to the next Open Campus on October 3rd!
O’Keefe