Designing a New Liberal Arts Program for the 21st Century: Toward the positive education for well-being

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K12751
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Science education
• Research Institution: Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Fudano Jun 東京工業大学, リベラルアーツ研究教育院, 教授 (90229089)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: リベラルアーツ / Positive Education / ポジティブ心理学 / 高等教育

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The research shows that the philosophy and objectives of liberal arts education has high affinity with so-called "positive education." Especially, both emphasizes the importance of altruism in contributing to higher well-being of the society. The current status and progress of positive education at higher education institutions around the world has been examined and analyzed by visiting leading universities. Through site visits and attending international conferences, a close network has been established with central figures of the International Positive Education Network (IPEN). In addition, positive interventions, the effect of which have been shown based on evidence, were also tested in a number of courses at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and their effectiveness was confirmed qualitatively.

Free Research Field

科学技術倫理

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ポジティブ心理学などが、実証的データに基づいて示している「科学的」知見を、高等教育の現場に適用するポジティブ教育の可能性と重要性を示し、21世紀グローバル社会において「よく生きる」力を育成する「新リベラルアーツ」の構築に貢献できた。この課題の成果は、日本のみならず世界の高等教育を質的に変換させる契機となる可能性が高い。（少なくともGDP世界３位の経済力を持ち、治安・衛生面でも優れている我が国で、年間2万人を越える自殺者と出さなくともよい状況を作ることには貢献できる。）