5. The Role of the AY 2026 Plenary Council

The Plenary Council, which will be held in AY 2026, is intended to serve as a forum for confirming the university’s fundamental principles and direction through dialogue with members of the university, including undergraduate and graduate students, and for sharing issues that require ongoing deliberation. The open sessions of the Plenary Council have been open to all members of the university and have served as a forum for addressing a wide range of issues. Although the purpose of the Council is not to reach immediate conclusions on every issue, all members are expected to recognize the understandings and areas of agreement that emerge through discussion as reflecting the university’s current state and to carry them forward into future initiatives.

Certain conclusions reached through the Council do not represent a one-sided presentation of the university’s plans or initiatives. Rather, they make visible the points confirmed through dialogue with undergraduate and graduate students regarding how the current learning and research environment is understood and how it should be improved going forward. At the same time, it is an effort to re-connect the “now” and “the future” of the university by responding to the sense of learning and the awareness of issues among undergraduate and graduate students.

In this sense, issues such as cross-disciplinary education, addressing growth fields, advancing the educational and research environments to realize a next-generation research university, and linking research with social practice cannot be addressed through institutional design by the university alone. These issues must be considered in connection with undergraduate and graduate students’ own experiences of how they make sense of their learning and research and what kinds of learning opportunities they need. At the AY 2026 Plenary Council, it is important to confirm the direction of such education and research reform in the second half of R2030 from the perspective of undergraduate and graduate students, and to form a common understanding for future concrete implementation.

The AY 2026 Plenary Council is not merely a forum for concluding discussions at the end of this academic year; rather, as part of Academy co-creation, it serves as a milestone opportunity for the university to demonstrate its commitment to continuing dialogue and deliberation with undergraduate and graduate students, using the issues and perspectives identified here as a starting point. Together with certain conclusions and questions that should continue to be explored, we will further solidify the direction and breadth of our efforts for the second half of R2030.

The insights and direction established through the AY 2026 Plenary Council will serve as the foundation for the university’s planned R2030 second half initiatives, and will lead to thinking and shaping the university’s image with undergraduate and graduate students, which will support each and every undergraduate and graduate student to realize their own learning and growth and to take on the next challenge.

In this sense, the AY 2026 Plenary Council is also a forum in which the university and undergraduate and graduate students can together consider what value Ritsumeikan University should create as a next-generation research university in light of changing social conditions and how it should cultivate individuals equipped with expertise and practical capabilities, as well as innovative and creative talent, in the AI era. We will discuss current issues in learning and student life in conjunction with envisioning the future direction that Ritsumeikan University seeks to pursue.