Global Liberal Arts Program (GLAP)公式サイト

SPIRIT

MISSION

The objectives of Rikkyo University’s GLAP is to develop global leaders who can think and act independently and live in harmony with the world.

"Global leaders" refer to individuals capable of fully utilizing their own strengths and thinking for themselves. They possess the intelligence and sensitivity to work with others in various environments, to treat everyone with respect, and seek a new path forward for the world.

A three phases curriculum

The GLAP curriculum is designed in three phases: the introduction phase, the development phase, and the completion phase.

STEP
01

Introduction phase

Firstly, students learn and pratice communication skills, critical thinking ability and expressive competence in methodology courses such as "Tutorial" and "Liberal Arts in Higher Education", “GLP Core subjects”.
Moreover, English Liberal Arts (ELA) courses introduce them to a wide range of fields across the humanities, social and natural sciences, deepening their understanding of the world.
STEP
02

Development phase

Secondly, students acquire the academic foundations in the three fields of Humanities, Citizenship and Business, through Global Studies Essentials courses. They further enhance their communication skills, critical thinking and expressive abilities in dedicated courses, such as the Second Year Seminar.
This phase ends with a Study Abroad year in a high-quality liberal arts college outside of Japan, allowing students to be confronted with different cultures and perspectives.
STEP
03

Completion phase

Finally, after selecting one of the three fields, students deepen their knowledge by taking specialized courses entitled Global Studies Electives, preparing them to write a graduation paper in either Humanities, Citizenship or Business.
Furthermore, they are encouraged to keep exploring topics outside from their selected fields and use interdisciplinary approaches in their research.

Origin of the GLAP logo

The GLAP logo incorporates the initial “G” into its design, drawing inspiration from migratory birds to symbolize students spreading their wings to different parts of the world.

Just as birds soar freely in the sky, students broaden their knowledge on the world stage and, with their own will, shape the path to their future. The flock of birds depicted in the logo represents GLAP’s family spirit: a community where students learn together, share ideas, and support each other. Flocks of birds are rarely led by a single individual, yet each individual's independent thoughts and actions drive the flock forward, echoing GLAP's philosophy to make a leader of every student.
The logo illustrates the diversity, independence, and global aspirations cultivated at GLAP.

MESSAGE

Hideyuki Matsui
Director
Center for Global Liberal Arts Program

Founded in 2017, Rikkyo University’s Global Liberal Arts Program (GLAP) is an advanced program designed to train people who will take the lead in today’s global society.

As borders between countries and regions increasingly blur, in order to solve the various issues that an increasingly complex society presents, we need a free spirit that is not bound by a single, narrow knowledge; the preparedness to live among diverse people using of the English language as a global lingua franca, and the flexible attitude that judges issues based on multi-faceted perspectives. “Liberal arts” is an idea that formed in Europe centuries ago, and refers to the academic studies necessary to understand our world. The liberal arts are traditionally the seven areas of grammar, rhetoric, and logic (the trivium), and arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music (the quadrivium).

Naturally, to understand the complex world of today, these seven liberal arts are no longer enough: we need to redefine the field to include areas like philosophy, history, sociology, economics, and management studies.

In addition, to deepen understanding, it is important to study not just the “what,” but the “how”.

In GLAP, students will carry out far-ranging debates with small class sizes, honing their own ideas with an emphasis on being able to put things into their own words.

As we engage in this work of reconstruction, we think about your abilities. That is to say, how can you develop your understanding of the world? How can you acquire the ability to give meaning to the world? And how can you learn to make a difference to the world?

It is quite obvious that an education designed to foster these abilities of students does not in any way depart from the liberal arts tradition of antiquity.

When we think of liberal arts education in this way, the global dimension ‒ learning English and learning IN English ‒ is indispensable.

Today English is a universal language, and using English as the medium of learning opens the door to a world that is not accessible when the only medium of learning is Japanese.

GLAP was created to empower you to have an impact on this world.

We are confident that the skills students will gain from this program are genuine ones that will remain useful ten, twenty years from now.