This Memorandum of the AY2022 Plenary Council of the University records the deliberations on future university development conducted in the process up to and including the Plenary Council, centering on the discussion at the first open session of the Council in AY2022.
The memorandum is composed of two chapters, in line with the agenda set by the Council itself. Chapter I is titled “Progress of Discussions since the AY2019 Plenary Council and Future Discussion of Academic Affairs and University Development,” while Chapter II is titled “Further Initiatives under the R2030 Challenge Design.” The memorandum concludes with an account of the significance of the Plenary Council and outlook for the future, as confirmed in the course of deliberations throughout AY2022.

What is the Plenary Council?

The Plenary Council of the University (hereafter, simply the “Plenary Council”) is an organ established in order for all members of the Ritsumeikan University learning community—undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, administrative staff, and the university authorities—to discuss and engage actively in improvements and reforms to various conditions of education, research, and campus 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 four primary parties: 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 College Deans are members). The Ritsumeikan Co-operative, which provides support for campus life, participates as an observer.
In the lead-up to the open sessions of the Plenary Council in AY2022, representatives of each party attended a Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting on June 3, 2022.

The Ritsumeikan Academy’s Medium-term Plan and Plenary Council Discussions

Ritsumeikan University has been pursuing qualitative enhancement and diversification of its education and research on an ongoing basis, with a view to creating universal value and solving problems confronting humanity.
The R2020 Medium-term Plan was formulated in 2010 under the theme of “Creating a Future Beyond Borders: Go Beyond Yourself and Create Your Own Future.” Throughout the plan period (AY2011 to AY2020), progress was made on qualitative shifts in teaching and learning, academic development around the theme of globalization in the colleges and graduate schools, graduate school and research enhancement initiatives, and the development of educational infrastructure. Open sessions of the Plenary Council were held in four years during this R2020 period: AY2011, AY2016, AY2018, and AY2019. Discussions in these sessions focused on “learning and growth” that fosters students’ initiative and proactiveness. Even in the context of student fees and finance policies, in addition to discussion of the medium-term plan and changes in the social climate, a key theme was how students themselves experience “learning and growth” in practice and the implications of this experience when considering the burden of tuition.
The Academy Vision R2030 launched in AY2018 declared “Challenge Your Mind, Change Our Future” as the theme for the new medium-term plan period beginning in AY2021. In AY2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic brought great change and uncertainty to society and lifestyles across the board, the R2030 Challenge Design was formulated to give shape to the Academy Vision. COVID-19 upended previous assumptions and made it difficult to draw up a stable vision for the future. At the same time, the formulation and execution of the new medium-term plan needed to reflect the imperatives of planning for new developments unlike anything envisioned previously.
The AY2020 and AY2021 Plenary Council Representative Meetings sincerely acknowledged feedback from undergraduate and graduate students regarding the difficulties faced in learning and student life during the COVID-19 pandemic, and discussed strategies to enable continuity of learning in such emergency situations, and the university’s basic outlooks and approaches on which such strategies are based. These discussions furnished an opportunity to deepen the parties’ awareness of the value that Ritsumeikan can offer as an institution of education and research, and the importance of continuing to learn and grow together in an era of uncertainty. They were also an opportunity to reconsider the significance of the Plenary Council and its approach to discussion, as a key issue relating to the nature of the university, its education and research.
Informed by these discussions, the AY2022 Plenary Council was charged with formulating directions toward the concrete realization of the R2030 Challenge Design, and considering the best approaches to take to academic affairs and university development moving forward.

1．The AY2019 Plenary Council and Plenary Council Representatives’ Meetings Held in the COVID-19 Pandemic (AY2020 and AY2021)

A major theme at the previous Plenary Council, held in October 2019, was how students gain a tangible sense that they are learning. This sense is the wellspring of motivation to take on new challenges and pursue new goals. In discussions at this Plenary Council the university authorities (hereinafter referred to as “the University”) confirmed the following approaches: (1) to place even greater emphasis on enabling each and every student to lead a fulfilling university life with a solid sense of learning; (2) to enable students, faculty and staff to work together to create opportunities both on and off campus for students to experience a sense of enjoyment and achievement; (3) to implement measures that lead to further enhancement of graduate school education, based on a complete grasp of graduate students’ circumstances and needs. In addition, the Student Union stated its view that policies for student fees and financial affairs should be discussed in the context of academic affairs, student life, and other aspects of academy development, and made demands for: (1) adequate efforts in disclosure and provision of information relating to academy finances and the like, in preparation for future discussions of tuition and fees; (2) opportunities such as workshops and discussion meetings on financial affairs, based on the information disclosed; (3) concrete development of initiatives (donations, asset management, etc.) to lower the degree of reliance on tuition and fees in the medium-term plan toward AY2030. The Graduate Student Council strongly endorsed the maintenance of graduate school tuition levels since they were reduced significantly in AY2017, and called both for this approach to be continued, as well as for further enhancement of career path support programs.
At the end of AY2019, shortly after these discussions took place, COVID-19 swept the world rapidly and triggered a global crisis. The university declared that it would institute emergency measures to ensure continuity of learning for students, and quickly pursued the development of online and hybrid learning and teaching environments, access to library holdings off campus (at home, etc.), provision of facilities and infrastructure to prevent the spread of infection, and financial support measures for students at all levels.
As the pandemic began to have serious effects on social and economic activity, as well as on learning and student life, Plenary Council Representatives’ Meetings were held in AY2020 and AY2021 as means to hear students’ experiences and gain a direct understanding of the conditions they faced, and as forums for dialogue between students and the University. The President also attended these meetings. An open session of the Plenary Council was originally scheduled to be held in AY2021, but in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was agreed to extend the student fee policy and tuition revision formula applicable up to AY2021 for a further one year, and hold the Plenary Council open session in AY2022 instead.
Discussions at the Plenary Council Representatives’ Meetings AY2020 and AY2021 addressed the difficult circumstances facing students, as evidenced in university-wide questionnaires (organized by the Student Union), which included some calls for tuition and fees to be refunded in light of the changes and confusion surrounding learning and student life in the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking these findings to heart and seeking to tackle the root causes of students’ concerns, the Student Union and University agreed on the importance of sustaining students’ motivation for learning by considering in substantive terms what kinds of teaching will satisfy students, and the need for further discussion directed to the enhancement of learning at university.
These discussions can be said to have connections with the discussion of “tangible sense of learning” at the AY2019 Plenary Council. The Plenary Council’s discussion of academic affairs and student fee/finance policies was pursued from the standpoint of a university’s mission and value as a place of lifelong learning, based on a renewed acknowledgment of the fact that a university and its academic programs are operated along a chronological axis of past, present and future, and of the importance of continuing to learn and grow in pursuit of a better self and better society. The University provided the other parties with an explanation of approaches to academic affairs that reflect the burden of tuition on students. In response, the Student Union expressed its understanding that student fee/finance policies are formulated in order for the university to continue providing value through learning, and to maintain support that fosters students’ sense of growth on an ongoing basis. Further, at the AY2021 Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting, the Student Union suggested that before determining student fee/finance policies, the University should furnish a detailed explanation of the thinking behind its decisions and the conditions that inform them, and provide an opportunity for the other parties to understand them fully.

2．Positioning of the AY2022 Plenary Council in Light of the AY2022 Representatives’ Meetings

In response to the Student Union’s demand at the AY2021 Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting, the University held a number of discussion meetings on student fees and financial affairs with the Student Union prior to proposing and determining the student fee/finance policies to apply from AY2023 onward. Following four separate meetings, the University and the Student Union reached a shared understanding on two points: (1) the nature of tuition and fees in private educational institutions, and (2) based on this understanding, the student fee/finance policies in place at Ritsumeikan University. In the context of fundamental contradictions in public funding for education, tuition and fees provide a key source of revenue enabling private institutions to pursue a variety of educational activities for current students, while fees and finance polices are operated from the standpoint of sustainable provision of educational conditions and environments on a long-term chronological axis encompassing past, present, and future. The discussion meetings also confirmed that in the context of a financial structure in which tuition and fees provide the greater part of the revenue base, Ritsumeikan University has achieved, as a result of its fees and finance policies, a sound revenue/expenditure balance and share of tuition and fees as a proportion of overall revenue (degree of reliance on tuition) that is relatively low compared to other universities.
In the Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting held on June 3, 2022, the University explained the content of the student fee/finance policies for AY2023 and beyond that were in the process of development and deliberation at the time, and discussed them with the other parties at the meeting. These policies were then ratified by the university on June 15, 2022. Following the Representatives’ Meeting, the University pursued several exchanges of opinion with the Student Union in order to disclose and render more visible its financial management approaches, and used the opinions expressed by the Student Union to inform the renewal of web pages introducing the R2030 finance policies and financial conditions. A wide range of undergraduate and graduate students were asked to view these pages and adjustments were made to render them more comprehensible to students.
Through the Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting, the University and Student Union confirmed that discussions at the open session of the Plenary Council would focus further on the programs in academic affairs and student life that are financed by student fees. The Student Union requested that in preparation for the open session of the Plenary Council, opportunities be provided for discussion and substantive exchange of opinions on current issues in student life, as well as approaches to academic development and improvement for the students of the future—in other words, the future vision for the university through the implementation of the R2030 Challenge Design. Meanwhile, the Graduate Student Council requested that the AY2022 Plenary Council focus on discussions relating to graduate student career paths, a topic that is ongoing from previous years. In response, the University committed to organizing meetings to continue discussions with each party.
Following the Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting, the University and Student Union established discussion meetings on academic affairs, developing a common understanding of the R2030 Challenge Design, and presenting their opinions on specific topics suitable for discussion at the open session of the Plenary Council. The University also held repeated discussion meetings with the Graduate Student Council to resolve practical issues, in parallel with considering the topics for discussion at the open session. Chapter Ⅱ contains a summary of discussions on the topics identified through this process.

3．Involvement of Students in Academic Affairs and University Development Going Forward (AY2022 Plenary Council Discussion)

Discussions in the meetings held following the AY2021 Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting, at the AY2022 Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting, and at the first open session of the AY2022 Plenary Council provided opportunities for exploration and early deployment of approaches to university development that involve formulating and giving concrete shape to university policies in consultation with students, and of models for involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in university development going forward, toward the realization of the R2030 academy vision.
At the first Plenary Council meeting of AY2022, the Student Union tabled three demands regarding its involvement in discussions on academic/university development and student fee/finance policies: (1) to establish a forum for discussion with the Student Union prior to determination of future student fee/finance policies; (2) to guarantee the University’s provision of explanations to and opportunities for discussion with the Student Union when assessing the outcomes of academic programs and the like, and when applying the Academic Maintenance and Improvement Fee in light of such assessment; and (3) to involve the Student Union in ongoing forums for information-sharing and discussion regarding policies and programs in academic affairs and university development that make use of student fee revenue, rather than simply seeking the Student Union’s consent to decisions made by the University. Meanwhile, the Graduate Student Council expressed an understanding of the Plenary Council as a forum for making progress on issues in the development and enhancement of the research environment that cannot be addressed by the Graduate Student Council alone. It also stated that progress on such issues in the Plenary Council should not be limited to specific solutions to discrete problems, but also include discussion of medium-term policy approaches such as balance between student fees and the provision of academic conditions.
In light of these demands, the University declared its intention to (1) establish a forum for discussion of student fee/finance policies with the Student Union, based on the outcomes of discussion at the open sessions of the AY2022 Plenary Council, and (2) provide forums at multiple levels for all students to become involved in academic affairs and university development (College-level five-way discussion meetings, forums for discussion with various university organs). The University also confirmed that the discussions in these forums are intrinsically connected with the involvement of students in future academic affairs and university development, and that the Division of Student Affairs would play the central role in coordinating them.
University development in an era of uncertainty requires the creation of new values that do not hinge on preexisting methods and frameworks. This means that rather than debating the merits of new programs and initiatives prepared in advance and presented by the University, the University and its students need to engage on a more equal footing in a process of exchanging ideas and opinions on what students really need, and applying them to the consideration and concrete development of programs and initiatives.
AY2022 Plenary Council discussions, including the various discussion meetings that were held in association with it, involved exchange of opinions on future programs based on shared understandings informed by a range of evidence regarding current conditions and challenges, including surveys conducted by the Student Union and data provided by the University. This exchange of opinions could be described as a constructive dialogue on the future shape of Ritsumeikan University, based on deep mutual understanding, with students and university authorities working together to create a process of intellectual activity befitting a university.
With its long history, the Plenary Council is a precious asset that Ritsumeikan can be truly proud of. Discussion and consultation with the Student Union and Graduate Student Council in the Plenary Council was recognized in the course of Ritsumeikan University’s external certified evaluation by the Japan University Accreditation Association (AY 2018) as a significant mechanism for the promotion of quality assurance from a learner-centered perspective. Naturally, the Plenary Council’s format has evolved and changed over time, and will surely do so in the future as well. Held at a time when Ritsumeikan is confronting a wide range of challenges and possibilities in the post-pandemic era, this year’s Plenary Council addressed the realization of R2030—in other words, academic development for the students of the future—through discussion of the conditions and challenges facing the students of the present. This was surely a first step toward the establishment of a new approach to dialogue between the University and students, and a new approach to collaborative academic development and student support, founded on the experience and distinctive features nurtured at Ritsumeikan thus far.

4．Points Confirmed in the AY2022 Plenary Council for Future Academic and University Development

The AY2022 Plenary Council was a historical one in two ways. Firstly, all parties were involved directly in exploratory discussion on the future-oriented task of achieving the R2030 vision. Secondly, there was a renewed acknowledgment of the role, functions, and value of the Plenary Council, which has been a cherished feature of Ritsumeikan for so long.
The Student Union declared it had reconstructed and renewed its awareness of the following points relating to its responsibilities in the Plenary Council:

President Nakatani Yoshio stated that the discussions since the AY2021 Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting have substantially raised the value of the Plenary Council system fostered at Ritsumeikan from a contemporary standpoint, and expressed his gratitude for the sincere efforts of the Student Union and Graduate Student Council in shaping these discussions.
Moreover, the University summarized the following approaches to academic and university development which are possible precisely because Ritsumeikan University possesses the distinctive Plenary Council system, and these approaches were confirmed with the Student Union.

• ①
  While it is assumed that the University will determine and take responsibility for policies pertaining to academic affairs, student fees and the like, in the process of formulating and reviewing such policies, each party to the Plenary Council has a direct role to play in university development.
• ②
  Based on this acknowledgment of the parties’ roles, the Plenary Council should be an opportunity for the parties to participate substantially in the development of the university, engaging in “dialogue” that respects one another’s views and thereby discovering new values and shared challenges.
• ③
  Ultimately, the utilization of these roles and functions of the Plenary Council to think collaboratively about university development policies, and to evaluate the initiatives pursued under these policies from each party’s standpoint, is a means to support proactive and autonomous quality assurance in the development of Ritsumeikan University.

In AY2022, the Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting was situated within the actual process of determining student fee policies, rather than simply being consulted after the policies had been decided by the university, as was the case in previous years. Instead of simply discussing the merits and demerits of the tuition revision formula and student fee levels per se, the Representatives’ Meeting was an opportunity to deepen the parties’ awareness of the social climate, financial conditions, and approaches to financial management that provide the context for development of student fee policies, and their understanding of the intent of these policies in context.
While maintaining the principle that the University is responsible for the determination of policies in areas such as student fees, the Plenary Council confirmed the following matters regarding discussion with students prior to such determination.

• ①
  When assessing the effects of academic policies, and when deciding how the Academic Maintenance and Improvement Fee should be used, the University will organize forums for explanation to the Student Union at appropriate times, and guarantee opportunities for discussion.
• ②
  In the course of implementing policies and programs in academic affairs, university development and the like, the practice of holding Representatives’ Meetings for information-sharing and discussion among the parties shall be continued into the future.

This was a highly significant shift in the approach to student fee policy discussions in the Plenary Council, and a major outcome of the AY2021 Plenary Council Representatives’ Meeting and the series of discussions and exchanges of opinion on student fee/finance policy that took place thereafter. The shift was re-confirmed at the open session of the Plenary Council as well.