Initiatives for Attractive Education in Graduate Schools
Future Plans (2007 & Beyond)
The first student to be enrolled in International Course for Oral Life Science will return to Sri Lanka in April of 2007. After returning, the student will continue studies at the University of Peradeniya, taking courses via e-Learning and composing a graduation thesis. In the future, a chief advisor will be dispatched to the University of Peradeniya to provide guidance on education methods utilized at the Core University. The chief advisor will also coordinate with the assisting professor in assessing the compatibility of the research topics and research equipment. As research program at the Core University proceeds, the research facilities will be improved as needed including the purchasing of necessary devices, instruments, and reagents.
Furthermore, during the 2006 field review of the University of Peradeniya, among the topics discussed during the faculty meetings was the wish of several instructors attached to the clinical studies division to study in this program. Future applicants will be drawn from the group of young instructors. In the future, after the candidates have been decided and their qualifications confirmed, they will sit the entrance exam before September 2007.
As for the program with Naresuan University that was scheduled to start in 2006, as a result of policy changes since the coup in September 2006, national universities are no longer in a position to receive full support from the government. Instead they are required to formulate their own independent management policies. This new development makes short term promotion of this program with Naresuan University difficult until the academic direction of the university has settled. In any case, in the future we aim to broaden the span of this program to beyond just Thailand and Sri Lanka to accept graduate students from the surrounding countries as well. Currently a study is under way to review the possibility of establishing Core University in University of Indonesia with which Niigata University has a history of exchange.
As can be seen in this report, the International Course for Oral Life Science has only just begun. This program will continue to evolve using a trial and error method based on the domestic conditions of the various countries involved. During this process we ask for the continued support of the university administration as well as the continued understanding and support of the faculty and staff of the Faculty of Dentistry.
