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Graduate School

University-Wide Liberal Arts — Tracing the History of Mei-Dai

Shoji HAGA Professor

Department: Institute of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Class Time:	2006 Spring Tuesday

Recommended for:	All students

Course Overview

Do you know about the history of Nagoya University? In this course, you will have an opportunity to learn about our school's history. At the same time, through viewing the history of Japan's universities as an historical existence, broaden your views on the future of the university.

This lecture is divided into two sections, the serial section and individual section. In the serial section, while going over the history of Japan's college education from an institutional point of view, we will study the general history of our University. After the 2004 school year, the president of this University has conducted the last lesson in this series. In the individual section, by setting individual themes for each lesson, we aim to look into Mei-dai's history from a different perspective, and, at the same time, provide an opportunity to discuss future views. For textbooks we will use the "Booklet of Nagoya University's History" series (11 books).

Key Features

This course is what is commonly called "Study of School History" and is held by the University's Literary Resources Room (abbr. LRR/ Curator: Shoji HAGA).

This type of lecture was first held in 1999. At first, it was held under the name, "The Universities of Japan- Present-day Japan and Nagoya University", but as the curriculum was revised in the 2003 school year, so was its name, rechristened to "Tracing the History of Mei-Dai".

Presently, this course is held in the first period of the school year, and, as a large-scale lecture, accepts some 200 to 250 students each year.

Many original teaching materials created by the LRR are used- including 'History of Mei-Dai' booklets- and some short videos- and help keep the lessons from being a 'listen-only' lecture.

The Booklet of Nagoya University's History series (11 books presently in print) is not a typical historical description book, but rather a simple description of the school's history from several different viewpoints. Being popular with many people inside and outside of this university, the book can be viewed on paper or on the web. In addition to the booklet, the website also offers two videos, "The History of Nagoya University – the campus (25min. approx.)" and "Nagoya University's Toyoda Lecture Hall (20min. approx)".

Also, at the end of each lesson, we ask students to turn in a simple report paper, providing a chance to ask questions, make requests, and so on.

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Syllabus

Course Aims

Today, many universities are undergoing a massive makeover. The execution and evaluation of these changes are impossible without historical knowledge of the university, its past and present. This course offers not only an opportunity to think about how universities like Nagoya should be, but also better understanding about the school where are all studying at now.

Conditions and recommended courses: None

This course is divided into two sections. The courses will be arranged in order according to the following themes.

Serial section

While going over the history of Japan's college education from an institutional point of view, we will study the general history of our University.

1. Adoption of western education and construction of Japan's college education system – The roots of Nagoya University

2. The birth of The first universities and their development – From a medical school to "Nagoya Imperial University"

3. Appearance of high school education and its development – The affiliate schools of today's Mei-dai

4. Formation of today's university system – From "Nagoya Imperial University" to "Nagoya University"

5. Post-war reformations in universities – Nagoya University as it is now.

Individual section

By setting individual themes for each lesson, we aim to look into Mei-dai's history from a different perspective, and, at the same time, provide an opportunity to discuss future views. For textbooks we will use the "Booklet of Nagoya University's History" series (11 books).

Course Schedule

Session	Contents	Remarks
Serial section
1	Orientation
2	From its roots to a medical college	Vocational schools and colleges
3	From Nagoya Imperial University to pre-war Nagoya University	Expansion of the pre-war university
4	The Eighth Prefectural High School	Former bodies of post-war Nagoya University
5	Nagoya Business High School	Booklet 10
6	Okazaki Teacher's High School	Booklet 8
7	From pre-war to post-war	Establishment of post-war university
8	Nagoya University as a national institution	Post-war reform in the university
9	Basic stance of the operation of Nagoya University	Lecture by Shin-ichi Hirano, President of Nagoya University
Individual section
10	The history of Meidai-Sai (School Fair)	Booklet 7
11	History of sports at Nagoya	Booklet 3
12	Nagoya University at its beginning and Motoharu Shibusawa, the University's First President	Booklet 6
13	Donated Facilities	Booklet 4,9
14	The first foreign teachers at Nagoya University	Booklet 5
15	History of the campuses	Booklet 2, slide show

Grading

Grading will be based on attendance and a report (or two). There will be two reports, basic (mandatory) and comprehensive (arbitrary).

Basic: Choose a topic from the course and summarize the contents of the lesson. The report can be no longer than 1600 letters.
Comprehensive: Set a theme from the history of Nagoya University, research on the theme, and summarize in1200 letters or less.

Grading standards

Excellent- An accurate basic report based on good understanding of lecture, and a comprehensive report with one's own logical perspectives based on resources he or she has read.

Good- an accurate basic report based on good understanding of lecture.

Acceptable-does not fully meet the standards for a 'Good' rating but sufficient to earn credit.

Poor- meets few or none of the standards required for 'Good' and insufficient to earn credit.

p> In addition to the evaluation results above, attendance will be counted as follows: Students with:

Excellent attendance records - evaluations upgraded

Good attendance - evaluation unchanged

Bad attendance - evaluation degraded by one rank.

Poor attendance - a 'Poor' rating regardless of reports' outcome.

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Class Materials

Lecture Handouts

Note: All files are in Japanese and written in PDF format

Session 1: Historical Map of Nagoya University (PDF, 989KB); Historical Chart of Nagoya University (PDF, 407KB)
Session 2: From its roots to a medical college (PDF, 129KB)
Session 3: Expansion of the pre-war university (PDF, 151KB)
Session 4: The Eighth Prefectural High School (PDF, 137KB)
Session 5: Nagoya Business High School (PDF, 150KB)
Session 6: Okazaki Teacher's High School (PDF, 131KB)
Session 7: From pre-war to post-war (PDF, 80KB)
Session 8: Nagoya University as a national institution (PDF, 67KB)
Session 9: Basic stance of the operation of Nagoya University (PDF, 153KB)
Session 10: The history of Meidai-Sai (School Fair) (PDF, 185KB)
Session 11: History of sports at Nagoya University (PDF, 250KB)
Session 12: Nagoya University at its beginning and Motoharu Shibusawa, the first president of the university (PDF, 88KB)
Session 13: Donated Facilities (PDF, 183KB)
Session 14: The first foreign teachers at Nagoya University (PDF, 50KB)
Session 15: History of the campuses (PDF, 169KB)

"History of Mei-dai" booklet series (Japanese HTML website)

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Page last updated March 16, 2009

The class contents were most recently updated on the date indicated. Please be aware that there may be some changes between the most recent year and the current page.