GC undergraduate students thought about two projects for a new form of open campus. In the first, Japanese students and international students will introduce the GC departments of study with videos and slides. The second is the question and answer session with undergraduate students, which would allow prospective students to communicate with undergraduate students online on the day of the open campus.

Every year, due to differences in entrance examination methods between Japanese and international students, we have arranged Japanese and international students open house sessions separately.

For example, “Welcome to GC!” is one of the open campus events at which prospective students can learn about the departments at GC, and its visitors are mostly Japanese. Meanwhile, the “International Student Preparation Course,” in which I participate every year as a staff member, is an event for international students.

However, this year, due to the effects of the coronavirus, we felt that we can’t do things the same as in previous years. This year we decided to hold the events with Japanese and international students together to promote multicultural communication, which is one of the best parts of the GC department. I was full of anxiety and excitement about whether I could properly share an image of student life with online “visitors” I have never met before.

In mid-June we started thinking about how to proceed with the project and offered what ideas we’d come up with. But things didn’t go as smoothly as I expected due to differences in values ​​and ideas of what was important between Japanese and international students.

We had many discussions at online meetings, but we couldn’t find a way to solve our disagreements at all.

International students could only offer unconvincing explanations to the Japanese students because of the language barrier. However, since the Japanese students were able to express themselves with logical explanations, it seemed that we would be made to unilaterally accept their opinions rather than come to a compromise with an exchange of opinions. Through daily discussions, we found satisfying answers, but we were exhausted from the conflict of opinion.

On the day of filming, our staff actually met in person for the first time. In the video, we talked about why we wanted to study at the GC department, how the entrance exam works, and what we’ve learned here to the online open campus participants.

When we started we were pretty tired, but when we actually began filming, it felt like we’d never had any difficulties. We were able to shoot a great video and have a really pleasant time doing it.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our staff members had concerns and worries which lead to a conflict of opinions. All of us made a serious effort so that even in this difficult situation, the people who are aiming to study in our university could forget the anxiety and worries of coronavirus.

The open campus video was completed because each member worked really hard even if some of our opinions collided. With the completion of the video, we were able to gain friendships that can overcome difficulties together. This sense of fulfillment was made clear with everyone’s smiles, and it was a really pleasant moment.

Please watch the Faculty of Global Communications open campus video that we made!

URL： https://youtu.be/pDIrFv1aNz4

(Written by: Phetnoo Maika, Doshisha University)

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Doshisha University（Official Homepage）

Doshisha University Faculty of Global Communications（Official Homepage）