Faculty of Commerce and Management: Overview of the Shibusawa Scholar Program

Fostering Global Leaders with a Foundation of
Profound Critical Thinking

The first step towards the “Global Leaders Program” in the Faculty of Commerce and Management is the PACE (Practical Applications for Communicative English) course which is mandatory for all first year students. Students are expected to improve their writing and presentation skills in this English skill class that consists of only 15 students per class and is held twice a week. Through taking this class, students will master the foundational English language skills necessary to achieve a score of 90 on the TOEFL iBT (the language exams which assess how well one can utilize English) before graduation. A score of 100 is expected for the top 15 students.

Approximately 15 students will be selected at the end of their first year based on a comprehensive evaluation of their grades, motivations, ambition, and so forth. These students will then be able to participate in the “Shibusawa Scholar Program,” which is organized to cover their remaining three years until graduation.
Specifically, the program consists of specialized courses in English alongside international students (30-40 credits), study-abroad experience at oversea schools that have agreements with Hitotsubashi University, advanced specialized courses upon return, and extracurricular and various training activities conducted both domestically and overseas, the latter being carried out in collaboration with the alumni association Josuikai and various corporations.

The “Shibusawa Scholar Program” primarily aims to polish the six aforementioned abilities and demonstrated potential through experiencing the reality of our global world from an early stage, a venture symbolized by study-abroad experience and specialized subject-learning in English alongside international students. The resulting “Shibusawa Scholars,” trained in practical skills and possessing high motivation and ambition, are a group of individuals who will epitomize our new motto “Global Captains of Industry.” The wide range of knowledge about the social sciences, the ability to propose practical solutions, the skills to undertake discussion in English in business environments, and the global leadership which they acquire through their various forms of training will set high expectations and meet with positive evaluations from the world of industry as well.