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On November 5, the 2nd Open Badge Awards ceremony was held in Tokyo, and the Certificate Program  offered by the Cross-Cultural College (CCC) received the Award of Excellence (Institutional Category). The CCC is a virtual college which is jointly operated by Kwansei Gakuin University and four Canadian universities (University of Toronto, Queen's University, Mount Allison University, and King's University College at Western University). The CP consists of 16 credits of English-language courses on multiculturalism and international relations, with a focus on cooperative learning programs such as the Global Internship in Japan, where Canadian and Japanese students are paired together to do an internship in English. Students can complete the program by earning 16 credits and obtaining an English score equivalent to TOEIC® 820 or higher.

The Open Badge, a digital certificate of knowledge, skills, and experience gained through programs, has been attracting a great deal of attention from universities, corporations, and local governments. By affixing Open Badges to their resumes, job application forms, and graduate school applications, Certificate Program graduates can easily demonstrate that they have acquired practical international business experience and skills such as a high level of English language proficiency, problem-solving skills, and cross-cultural competence. Acquiring an Open Badge is also an opportunity for students to prove that they are “global personnel capable of working in a multinational environment,” which is the objective of the CCC.

The Open Badge Awards—sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Digital Agency—recognize outstanding Open Badge initiatives. The CCC, which is jointly operated by KGU and four Canadian universities, was chosen for an Open Badge award in recognition of its unique approach. This is the second time that the CCC program has received an external award from outside the university. In April this year, the Global Internship in Japan became the first program in the Kansai region to win the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award at the “7th Career Design Program Awards Chosen by Students.”

KGU will continue to promote the acquisition of Certificate Program Open Badges in order to help students realize their ideal careers, in addition to contributing to society by producing  global human resources.