オーラル・ヒストリーでたどる島根県立国際短期大学の創立と展開 : 島田雅治元学長の証言

This paper describes the history of Shimane International College from the oral history of former president SHIMADA Masaharu, who was a major contributor to the founding and development of the college. Shimane International College, which was the predecessor of the University of Shimane（Hamada Campus）, was established in 1993 to create a base for higher education in the western part of Shimane Prefecture. The mission of the college is to foster international human resources and revitalize the region. The vision for the development of the college was expressed with the slogan, “Let’s establish a small college, promote its growth, and make it more splendid!” The enthusiasm to realize this vision was manifested in the passion to create a college that responds to the demands of the times and regions, and has departments and centers that are unique in other prefectures, and that is even ahead of the times. The characteristics of education can be grasped by keywords such as international exchange, communication, human resource development, Northeast Asia, small-group education, independence, college opened to the community, regional exchange, and regional contribution. The college received a generous back-up despite the tight prefectural finances, gathered excellent faculty members, and clerical staffs, and enhanced various aspects such as educational content and educational environment. However, because the college is a small school, there were not many faculty members, and there were times when there was not enough manpower to contribute to the community. Therefore, it was operated with the spirit of “Let’s do what each person can do”. When the college actually opened, student recruitment was smooth and the employment rate was very high at that time. In response to this result, the college staff will renew their original intention to“ Let’s make the college more splendid!” and will continue to work toward the realization of the vision. Then the two-year college was transformed to the University of Shimane