As part of the “Supporting Social Impact Creation through University Internationalization Project,” Hiroshima University launched the course “Regional Issue Collaborative Learning Methodology” (eight sessions) on June 11, 2025. The course was attended by four Japanese students and one international student. Despite their diverse cultural backgrounds, they collaborated to engage in practical learning aimed at exploring methodologies for developing new solutions to regional challenges.
The lectures were led by Associate Professor Shunsaku Komatsuzaki (IDEC International Collaboration Organization) and were structured around Project-Based Learning (PBL) methodologies. The program emphasized identifying issues, structuring problems, formulating questions, and designing processes for collaborative co-creation.
In the first session, students deepened their understanding of the fundamental concepts of Experiential and Inquiry-Based Learning (EIBL) and discussed “What are regional issues?” In the second session, participants conducted interviews with international students, working on approaches to understanding challenges from the perspectives of others.
In the middle and later sessions, students gradually learned multiple methodologies that support idea generation for regional issues, such as combining needs and seeds, bias breaking, and analogy thinking. Drawing on past initiatives, the course also introduced approaches to defining regional issues from a multicultural perspective.
In the final session, the eighth, each student presented the outcomes of their individual exploration and co-creation processes addressing the issues they had set for themselves.
The main themes presented in the final session included:
- Shortage of agricultural workers × Redesigning values
- Forestry and rebuilding the lifestyles of young people
- Medical equipment and energy challenges
- Regional revitalization × Emotion-based approaches
Across all presentations, a common stance of empathy and perspective shift (Value Shift) was evident, demonstrating an exploratory and flexible way of thinking distinct from conventional approaches focused on finding the “correct answer.”
In closing, Associate Professor Komatsuzaki emphasized that “rather than seeking the correct answer, it is more important to deepen one’s understanding of the question and to refine hypotheses through dialogue with others.” He also highlighted the intellectual breadth gained through the course and expressed expectations for further developments.
Furthermore, in the third term (September–October 2025), a practical course titled “Regional Issue Collaborative Exercise” is scheduled to be offered, providing students with opportunities to apply the knowledge gained from this lecture to real-world regional contexts. Through this course, students cultivated the ability to articulate and structure questions rooted in their own interests, collaborate with peers from diverse cultural backgrounds, and generate new value. Hiroshima University will continue to advance initiatives that enhance students’ social awareness and problem-solving skills through such educational programs.
