January 31st, 2024


A follow-up workshop for the 1st year of the Rising 3 Employee Training Program was held.

On 30th of January, 17 first-year employees of the Rising 3 Employee Training Program (ETP) took part in a post-training workshop as the fifth generation to summarize the program.

The Rising 3 ETP program began in 2019 as a training program to develop new employees over the first three years of their employment. The goal of the first year of training is to become familiar with university administration and to be able to explain the work of other departments in their own words.

At this post-training session, the trainees and staff from each department who served as lecturers were divided into three groups to reflect on the training, which took place every two weeks, and discuss their growth over the year and what they gained from their learning.

Representatives from each group then presented their thoughts from the discussions.

Some of the comments included: 'I would like to make use of the fact that each department's work is linked to my own work in the future'; 'It was good to learn about the work that my peers are involved in'; and 'I would like to have the opportunity to experience work in a department I am interested in for a certain period, like an internship'.

In his comments, Mr Mitsunoh Hashimoto, Director of the Education Department, said: 'From now on, each of you must be able to act independently and with a keen sense of speed. You are the talents who will be responsible for our university in the future. I hope you will work hard for university innovation". Yutaka Takii, Director General of the Administration Department, said: 'The career recruits who have joined us have no doubt played a key role in stimulating those who have been working here for some time in a positive way. I hope they will have their own ideas and work closely with other departments while carving out their own careers".

The theme of the Rising 3 (second year) training in the next academic year is collaboration between teachers and staff. In the first semester, they will participate in training for new teachers, and in the second semester, they will enter general education classes to learn about classroom operation.

January 26th, 2023
The Arii Laboratory of the Innovative Food Sciences, School of Food Sciences and Nutrition has developed plant-based sweets aimed at improving the QoL (quality of life) of people with food restrictions.

The Food Science Laboratory (Prof Yasuhiro Arii) of the Department of Innovative Food Sciences has developed a plant-based sweet that is suitable for people with food restrictions such as wheat, egg and milk food allergies, dyspepsia, vegetarians and vegans.

Professor Yasuhiro Arii says: "In order for more people to lead enriched lives, it is important to take a scientific approach to the problems faced by people with food restrictions (such as food allergy sufferers, people with difficulty in eating, vegetarians, vegans and others who prefer plant-based foods) and improve their QoL. We will continue to propose food products for people with food restrictions. We would also like to provide information on cooking methods so that they can be prepared at home as well."

This development is a summary of the work done by Misa Kanda (graduated in 2022) in her graduation research, which was also reported in the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science (Netherlands).

This research was funded by JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research JP22K02191.

January 26th, 2024

Second-year students from the Department of Human Environmental Sciences, worked on the The Appeal of the Aji River in the Water Metropolis of Osaka and a proposal for a cruise' as part of an industry-government-academia collaborative community project, and a critique session was held.

In the 'Field Survey Practicum' (Prof Masahiro Miyake) of the Department of Human Environmental Sciences, second-year students worked on the “The Appeal of the Aji River in Osaka, the Water Metropolis, and Proposal for a Cruise' as an industry-government-academia-region collaborative town planning project, and held a review session on 23 June. This year's exercise involved a field survey using boats on the Aji, Dotonbori, Dojima and Tosabori Rivers in the Water Metropolis of Osaka, with the cooperation of Ipponmatsu Shipping Co. Proposals for future urban development and waterside cruises were compiled.

January 26th, 2024

The University's School of Education co-organized a symposium on coexistence and innovation with the Cultural Change Cluster of the Asia Oceania Research and Education Organisation, Kyushu University.

On 19 and 20 January, the School of Education at MWU co-organized the symposium "Innovating Symbiosis: City Planning and EBPM" (organized by the Cultural Change Cluster of the Kyushu University Asia Oceania Research and Education Organization) at the Kyushu University Nishishin Plaza. The symposium examined coexistence and innovation from the perspective of urban development and EBPM (evidence-based policy-making). The symposium was attended by a number of university faculty members, prefectural assembly members and junior and senior high school students. Speeches and panel discussions on symbiosis and innovation, and examples of innovation in cooperation with start-up companies and local stakeholders were discussed.

On 19 January, Professor Katsuya Kitaguchi, Dean of the University's School of Education, introduced the University's initiatives and future direction in the panel discussion 'Case studies of regional cooperation and innovation', which received sympathetic comments from many participants.

The University will continue to work with various universities and research institutions to spread its initiatives.

January 24th, 2024

Mukogawa Women's University and Montbell Inc. signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement on 23 January. The signing ceremony was held at Montbell's headquarters in Osaka City, where Montbell Chairman Isamu Tatsuno and Mukogawa Women's University President Kazuyoshi Seguchi signed the agreement.

Montbell has set out its 'Montbell 7 Missions', which aim to raise awareness of environmental conservation and strengthen disaster prevention and disaster response capabilities through outdoor activities, and was quick to form the 'Outdoor Donation Team' to provide assistance in the wake of the Noto Peninsula earthquake. Mukogawa Women's University, on the other hand, plans to open its School of Environment and Sustainability in April 2025, the first of its kind at a women's university (currently under planning). The new school will focus on fieldwork and aims to develop human resources with an environmental mindset to create a sustainable future.

The two institutions, which share the mission of 'coexisting with the environment', have signed an agreement to work closely together to solve various issues and contribute to regional revitalization and human resource development through fieldwork and practical activities in the outdoors. The Faculty of Environmental Symbiosis has been selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as a project to support the consolidation of university and technical college functions.

At the signing ceremony, Chairman Tatsuno said: 'We expect you to put our seven missions into practice in fields such as the environment and health. We hope that you will go out into the field and experience nature first-hand, and learn the wisdom and strength to survive, rather than just learning from a desk".

President Seguchi said: 'I am impressed by the fact that Montbell Inc. was quick to extend a helping hand after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the recent Noto Peninsula Earthquake. I am convinced that since MWU offers a wide range of faculties and departments, we are committed to connecting with the seven missions in many different ways."

January 23rd, 2024

Many people took part in the 'One-day bus food tour in Tamba Sasayama' organized by students of the Omori seminar of the School of Social Informatics.

On 20th of January, 31 people took part in a one-day bus tour of the food of Tamba Sasayama, organized by students of the Omori Seminar in the School of Social Informatics.

 The Omori Seminar has long been involved in food research to develop food resources in the Tamba region of Hyogo Prefecture. The bus tour was devised by four third-year students of the seminar in response to a request from the Hyogo Prefectural Citizens' Bureau to implement food tourism. The students went to Tamba Sasayama many times and spent about a year working out a plan to create a tour that would not only allow people to eat, but also to experience the attractions of Tamba. A questionnaire was sent to about 100 respondents on campus to formulate a plan, which was then made into a one-day bus tour with the help of Nippon 0 Travel Co.

The bus departed from Osaka and arrived in Tamba Sasayama in about two hours. First, they experienced painting at the pottery production centre of 'Tamba-yaki', 'Tou-no-Sato'. Afterwards, they had lunch at a 400-year-old thatched-roofed old private house restaurant using Tamba ingredients, and enjoyed picking fresh strawberries themselves at an aerial strawberry farm.

The students also acted as tour guides. They explained the highlights and itinerary on the bus and handed over the beverage money. They showed their hospitality by checking the number of people on the bus before and after boarding, and by talking to each participant and taking photos.

Asuka Mure, a third-year student at the Department of Information and Media Studies, who worked on the project, said: 'We planned this event not only to eat, but also to let people experience the charm and unusualness of Tamba through a variety of experiences. I am glad to see so many people participating and enjoying themselves".