Outline
In May 2019, our university joined the United Nations Academic Impact (hereinafter, UNAI).
UNAI is a global initiative to pursue social contributions of universities with an aim to align the activities of institutions of higher education around the world with the United Nations.
Since our university conducts various education and research as well as community contributions related to the UNAI, we participate in 4 of 10 Principles of the UNAI.
Principle 6: A commitment to encouraging global citizenship through education
Principle 8: A commitment to addressing issues of poverty through education
Principle 9: A commitment to promoting sustainability through education
Principle 10: A commitment to promoting inter-cultural dialogue and understanding, and the unlearning of intolerance, through education
[Reference] United Nations Academic Impact Japan website
These four principles are in line with the founding principles of our university.
Activity report
◆Activity report
UNAI member universities are expected to undertake activities related to at least one of the 10 Principles of the UNAI each academic year and report to the UNAI Secretariat.
◆Iwate Prefectural University Activity Report
Our university compiled an activity report on UNAI-related activities in the 2023 academic year.
UNAI Report on Activities 2024 : Introdction（PDF）
1 Considering SDG solutions from the perspective of health issues
Iwate Prefectural University Faculty of Nursing, Associate Professor Shizuko Angerhofer and Professor Mai Hosokawa
Referring to the Sustainable Development Goals Fact Sheet (United Nations Information Center, 2015), students split into groups and choose one of the 17 SDGs in which they are most interested and, focusing on topics related to health issues, consider and present solutions at the national, community, and individual Faculty of Nursing student levels. Once presentations have been made, students participate in Q&A sessions in order to exchange opinions and deepen their learning and reflection.
It is through these efforts that students are given the opportunity to consider healthcare and nursing issues from an international perspective, and to begin to aspire to go beyond the field of nursing and become nursing professionals who adopt an interdisciplinary and policy-related perspective.
Considering SDG solutions from the perspective of health issues: Activity report（PDF）
2 Efforts to enhance collaboration between municipal public health nurses and home-visiting nurses in Iwate Prefecture: Holding study sessions to learn together about Iwate Prefecture's comprehensive care system
Iwate Prefectural University Faculty of Nursing, Community Health Nursing Course
Professor Tomoko Kudo; Associate Professors Mioko Goto, Ayaka Sobu, and Makiko Ookubo; Lecturer Toru Onashi; Assistant Professors Natsumi Takaiwa and Minami Mitsui
Iwate Prefectural University Graduate School of Nursing, Master's Program Student Yuki Kikuchi; Iwate Prefectural University Former Faculty of Nursing, Community Health Nursing Course Professor Kimiko Sato
With this in mind, we began in this course to investigate efforts to enhance collaboration between municipal public health nurses and home-visiting nurses in Iwate Prefecture. Focusing on building community-based comprehensive care systems that effectively address mental disorders (comprehensive care systems)--a common issue for both types of nursing professionals in local communities--we exchanged information with related organizations including Prefectural Headquarters, health centers, and the Iwate Prefecture Home-Visit Nursing Station Council, in order to determine the circumstances behind such factors as comprehensive care system trends in the prefecture and each area, relations with individuals with mental disorders and their families, and home-visit nursing stations. We then proceeded to plan joint training sessions, with the expectation that collaborating and working together would improve mutual understanding between both types of nursing professionals. Finally, we held study sessions with the goal of providing specific opportunities for participants to understand Iwate Prefecture's comprehensive care system and consider their own roles in it.
3 Students learning and bringing communities and children together: Practical report on the "Doronko Group" volunteer organization for children
Iwate Prefectural University Faculty of Social Welfare, Associate Professor Takayuki Inoue
Doronko Group, a volunteer group for children, launched two new activities in 2024. Takigi Study Space was launched by Doronko Group Mirai as a means of supporting learning and creating a sense of belonging, while Doronko Group Mogu Mogu Cafeteria is aimed at planning, operating, and supporting children's cafeterias.
Both are volunteer activities aimed at supporting the learning and lives of children in the community, and students themselves participate in planning and implementation based on an awareness of the issues. Although advisors provide ongoing support, it is the students who take a central role in proactively and autonomously developing activities.
4 Development of a prototype system for visualizing community cleanup activities
Iwate Prefectural University Faculty of Software and Information Science, Lecturer Hiroki Tomizawa
Iwate Prefecture Environment and Lifestyle Department, Community Resource Recycling Promotion Division; BadassIwate Representative Director Yuya Tanaka
With these circumstances in mind, a team of researchers working with students in the Faculty of Software and Information Science gradually began developing a system that would serve as a platform for surveying actual coastal and river debris, as well as a data provision application to urge prefecture residents to participate. Focusing on the fact that organized cleanup activities conducted by community residents were more effective in maintaining environments, these researchers are now working to determine the most appropriate system to deploy throughout Iwate Prefecture, by prototyping a platform system to determine the amount of trash being discarded, along with a data provision application handling a wide variety of data. In 2024, the researchers prototyped a platform system to visualize the results of community cleanup activities, as well as an application for sharing route information on cleanup efforts, based on their research thus far.
5 A fashion design project conducted in collaboration with a sewing company to reuse remnants, and its educational benefits
Morioka Junior College, Iwate Prefectural University, Associate Professor Kyoko Sato
North Iwate Apparel Industry Promotion Association; Ninohe Fashion Center Co. Ltd.
Iwate Northern Area Regional Development Bureau, Ninohe Regional Development Center
This project was part of a graduation work project led by two students in the Division of Lifestyle Design in the Department of Home Economics of Morioka Junior College. The objective was to verify the feasibility of utilizing remnants through the process of proposing, producing, and evaluating clothing designs. One important aim of this project was to go beyond merely proposing designs, and to contribute to actual production processes in order to consider what exactly sustainable fashion and clothing designs that can be worn for a long time are, as well as to consider what kind of clothing people want today.
6 Overseas training through the International Humanities Education Program minor
Iwate Prefectural University Higher Education Promotion Center, International Education Research Department Professor Hideya Takahashi and Lecturer Kensuke Emura
In addition to the major programs Iwate Prefectural University offers in particular faculties and departments, we also offer students two minor programs: the Community Creation Education Program and the International Humanities Education Program. These programs allow students to gain an understanding of the world in which they will apply what they have learned, from a community or international perspective, and to systematically and practically learn the skills they will need in order to tackle the diverse challenges arising throughout the world. Students who satisfy the requirements for completing these programs will earn a Community Creation Specialist or International Humanities Specialist degree. The International Humanities Education Program aims to provide students with the language skills needed to work together with people from different cultural backgrounds in solving issues, and the practical ability to act independently, based on a multifaceted understanding of culture and society grounded on crosscultural understanding and multicultural coexistence in a world constantly undergoing globalization.