About us

The University of Tokyo Center for Global Education (UTokyo GlobE) was launched in April 2023 with the mission of training global leaders who will form relationships with diverse people around the globe, contribute to the creation of a peaceful and inclusive society, and thrive on the international stage in the dynamic world of the present and future.

As a university-wide platform for international education, GlobE offers an array of educational programs for all UTokyo undergraduate and graduate students, both domestic and international, across all affiliations and majors. Through long- and short-term study abroad programs, courses taught in English and other languages in which domestic and international students engage in active learning on campus and online, and various student-led research and creative projects, GlobE supports students’ journeys by fostering diverse perspectives and sensibilities. GlobE encourages students to study in and about regions throughout the world—not only North America, Europe, and East Asia, which have traditionally been the focus of international education in Japan, but also areas that relatively few UTokyo students have had the opportunity to learn from, such as South Asia and Africa—as well as to engage in on-campus exchanges with students from those regions.

Instructors engaged in GlobE’s educational programs are top-level educators passionately committed to interactive learning while being engaged in cutting-edge research in fields ranging from science and engineering to the humanities and social sciences, and they come from diverse backgrounds in terms of nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, and age. By studying with these instructors, students can obtain a global education on the UTokyo campus while broadening their knowledge and honing their skills for proactive communication and dialogue.

In collaboration with other university offices and units, GlobE also takes the lead in cultivating an open, inclusive environment on campus so that international students who come to study at UTokyo can enjoy a fulfilling experience both inside and outside the classroom and so that domestic and international students can develop enriching relationships and learn from each other.

This photo was taken in a museum called The Broad, located in downtown Los Angeles in the United States. It’s a picture of me in front of a table and chairs.

But wait. What kind of table and chairs? As you see, the scale is completely out of proportion: either I am too small or the table and chairs are too large.

This artwork is entitled "Under the Table" and was created by Robert Therrien in 1994. It focuses on a seemingly mundane set of objects--a table and chairs--that everyone is so used to seeing every single day at home, at school and at work. But it also unsettles the taken-for-grantedness of these objects by enlarging them to an extraordinary size. That is, by turning these furniture into an unnatural size, "Under the Table" urges us to reassess things that seem natural and reevaluate the fundamental significance of norms that we have internalized.

What, for example, are tables and chairs for? After all, some societies, including Japan, did not use them in households for a long time. It’s not “natural” for many of us to have them in our daily lives. Why do we need them now? How do they condition and impact the ways in which we see and understand this world?

This may seem like a silly exercise but it actually resonates perfectly with the fundamental purpose of higher education. Like Therrien's work, the university is a place where widely accepted norms and rules are questioned and reconceptualized to generate new ways of looking and thinking.

The Center for Global Education was established in April of 2023 to do just that. It exists to push UTokyo students to step outside of their comfort zone and think out of the box by offering them cross and interdisciplinary courses taught entirely in English as well as by providing a variety of exciting global programs. Just like Therrien's table and chairs, it encourages students to reassess their internalized norms so that they may cultivate new ways of seeing and appreciating the world.

The new outlook gained through such experiences may not always be pleasant or easy to swallow. Nor do we know when it will become useful--Therrien's table and chairs ostensibly have no functional purposes as there is no way for me to sit at this table comfortably. But the new way of seeing will certainly enrich and deepen one's vision and knowledge by generating so many questions. It will also offer you multiple paths to understand the world from different angles and enable you to become a global citizen who is capable of engaging in a constructive dialog with people of different backgrounds and values.

So please take advantage of the amazing resources we offer. We present chances for you to find your own version of blown-up tables and chairs through such exciting programs as Go Global Gateway (GGG), University-Wide Student Exchange Program (USTEP), Global Unit Courses (GUC), Global Liberal Arts Courses and many others.

We are here to assist your journey into the larger world!

Yujin Yaguchi
Director, Center for Global Education
Vice President, The University of Tokyo

Year.Month	Event
2005.4	Division for International Relations established
2010.4	Integrated International Student Center and other related sections; Establish Division of International Affairs, International Center, and Center for Japanese Language Education within the Division
2012.4	Global Campus Initiative established within the Division of International Affairs
2014.10	Top Global University Project started Restructured Global Campus initiative; Global Campus Promotion Office established Under Global Campus Promotion Office, Planning and Public Relations Division, Education Promotion Division and Student Exchange Division established
2017.4	Planning and Public Relations Division, Education Promotion Division, and Student Exchange Division were restructured to establish Planning and Strategy Division and Education and Student Division
2018.4	Restructured Division for International Affairs; Division for Global Campus Initiatives established Under Division for Global Campus Initiatives, International Planning and Strategy Office, International Education Support Office, and Center for Japanese Language Education established Go Global Gateway (GGG) Program launched
2021.6	UTokyo Global Unit Courses (UTokyo GUC) launched
2023.4	Division for Global Campus Initiatives abolished; Center for Global Education (UTokyo GlobE) established International Support Division, International Exchange Division, International Education Division, Japanese Language Education Division, Komaba Branch and Kashiwa Branch established within Center for Global Education Global Liberal Arts (GLA) Courses launched