Overview of the Plenary Council

The Plenary Council is an organ established in order for all members of the Ritsumeikan University (“RU”) learning community—undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and staff, and the university authorities to discuss and engage actively in improvements and reforms to various conditions of education, research, and student life. Sessions of the Plenary Council are conducted in line with the principle of self-government by all constituents of the university, and are attended by representatives of the four primary components of the university: the Student Union as the self-governing body for undergraduate students, the Graduate Student Council as the self-governing body for graduate students, the Faculty/Staff Union, and the university authorities (the Executive Board of Trustees of which all College Deans are members). The Ritsumeikan Co-operative, which provides welfare and assistance for student life, participates as an observer.

Positioning of the AY 2022 Plenary Council

Ritsumeikan University formulated the R2020 medium-term plan in AY 2010, and embarked on a program of further improvements in education, research, and student life with the goal of achieving the vision for AY 2020. Open sessions of the Plenary Council were held in AY 2011, 2016, 2018, and 2019, pursuing discussions focused on “learning and growth” to cultivate students’ independence and initiative. The university has given especially serious consideration to the demands and issues identified in the course of discussions with the Student Union and Graduate Student Council, and pursued improvements accordingly as part of R2020. AY 2018 saw the establishment of the Academy Vision R2030, and in AY 2020 the R2030 Challenge Design was adopted as a medium-term plan for the ten-year period beginning in AY 2021, formulated amid the COVID-19 pandemic from the standpoint of fundamentally re-thinking the nature of the university, education, and research from the ground up.

The open session of the Plenary Council to be held in October 2022 will be required to undertake a comprehensive review of what initiatives thus far have achieved and the challenges that remain, and to confirm, through consultation between the university authorities, students, and faculty and staff, the directions Ritsumeikan University will take in education, research, and student support from AY 2023 onward. As a prerequisite to these discussions, there is a need to ascertain the achievements and challenges arising from initiatives undertaken thus far. This will involve (1) evaluating the various programs pursued under R2020 from AY 2011 through 2020, and (2) reviewing the learning initiatives undertaken in the period of transition from R2020 to R2030, when the COVID-19 pandemic was necessitating a shift in models of learning at university. Among the initiatives designed to enable continuity of learning during the pandemic, some are “emergency measures” to ensure students could continue their learning, while others are more connected with new advancements expected in the future. There is a need to distinguish between these two types. These matters have also been discussed at meetings of Plenary Council representatives held in AY 2020 and 2021. The university authorities are aware that in the context of reviewing R2020 achievements and challenges and initiatives under R2030, the various points raised during these representative discussions need to be revisited and their status confirmed.

In terms of future directions, there is a need for further discussion going forward in order to give shape to the R2030 Challenge Design and put it into practice.

Informed by the progress of discussions to date, this document is designed to prompt discussions in the lead-up to the AY 2022 Plenary Council open session. It clarifies the achievements and remaining challenges especially with regard to initiatives under R2020 and those carried out in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and sets out directions toward the realization of the R2030 Challenge Design.