Innovative curriculum
The curriculum of Graduate School of Policy Studies, Doctoral Program consists of special policy research courses, basic project seminars, applied project seminars, pre-requisite courses, and doctoral dissertation guidance. Each course is taken on a semester basis.
Policy Research
Since the style of writing an academic paper and a report for a company or research institute differs even when the same case is addressed, instruction in research design is provided early on after enrollment.
The "Special Topic in Policy Research" course teaches students how to write academic papers and the thinking required for writing a doctoral dissertation.
Basic project exercises, applied project exercises
Collaboration between multiple faculty members and graduate students is essential to the reorganization of knowledge, and we have established project seminars as a forum for promoting this collaboration.
There are two types of project seminars: basic and applied. The basic project seminar, which is worth 4 credits, is a requirement for completing the course. The applied project seminars are run mainly by graduate students with the participation of faculty members, and multiple faculty members participate in the projects as navigator faculty members, providing guidance, advice, and discussions to graduate students to help them achieve the results of their project research. The faculty member who coordinates the guidance and advice is the main navigator faculty member.
Not only are case studies always incorporated into the project process, but fieldwork such as on-site surveys and data collection is also mandatory. This allows students to actively engage with issues that are the focus of policymaking, and participating graduate students are also required to submit research reports as necessary.
Through the project research process in the seminar, graduate students will develop a policy mindset while also exploring the research topic for their doctoral thesis and formulating a problem.
Major project themes include research on the policy formation process, sustainability, fiscal and financial/regional policy, and corporate management and IT.
Pre-requisite subjects
Policy research requires a process of learning a wide range of interdisciplinary knowledge and reconstructing knowledge in an empirical and practical manner. Since this graduate school is particularly expected to admit students with diverse academic and practical careers, students may be required to earn credits to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for research from courses offered in the Graduate Graduate School of Commerce, the Graduate Graduate School of Accounting & Finance, MBA Program, and the faculties and Platform for Arts and Sciences at our university. If there are no suitable courses offered at our university, students may be required to take courses at other universities with which we have credit transfer agreements.
Required courses are determined for each graduate student by an advisory faculty member, who is appointed at the time of enrollment, in consultation with the Graduate School Committee, and are the requirements for completing the course.
Doctoral dissertation writing guidance
Doctoral dissertation guidance is provided to graduate students in the fifth and sixth semesters under the supervision of a navigator professor. In order to ensure that graduate students' policy research has a broad perspective, the navigator professors supervise multiple Professor in addition to the main navigator professor.
Graduate students will not only receive individual guidance from each Navigator teacher, but will also be required to create a research plan at the beginning of the fifth semester and make a presentation at a research meeting. In addition, students must become a doctoral candidate in order to submit a doctoral thesis. To become a doctoral candidate, students must present their research at a public hearing. After the public hearing, students who become doctoral candidates will continue to receive research guidance and will write and submit their doctoral thesis.
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