Address on Assuming the Presidency of the Japan Association for College and University Education, 2025–2026

Kayo Matsushita (Kyoto University)

  I have been reappointed President of the Japan Association for College and University Education and will again serve in this role for the 2025–2026 term. 

  In my presidential address in 2023, I described the present as “a time of adversity for universities,” identifying two major factors: the decline in the population of 18-year-olds and the emergence of generative AI. The impact of both has become even more serious than it was two years ago.

  Since the early 1990s, the number of 18-year-olds in Japan has continued to fall. However, thanks to a rising university entrance rate and institutional reorganization that has shifted students from vocational schools and junior colleges into universities, the number of university entrants has slightly increased. It is now forecast, however, that from the 2026 academic year this number will begin to decline. Competition to attract students is becoming ever more intense, and an increasing number of institutions are being forced to suspend student recruitment or withdraw.

  With regard to generative AI, its use in Japanese universities was initially gradual, but it has spread rapidly in recent years. University faculty members are now obliged to design their classes and assignments on the assumption that students will use generative AI. We must therefore consider how we want students to use generative AI and how we can foster their abilities while they use these tools. At the same time, faculty themselves are under pressure both to improve the efficiency of their work through generative AI and to rethink what is distinctive about education provided by human teachers, who have their own individuality and embodied presence. 

  Under these challenging conditions for universities, what role is expected of our Association?

  In its “Total intellectual capacity” report issued in February 2025, the Central Council for Education argues that, in order to realize the desired future vision, it is essential to increase the “Total intellectual capacity,” defined as “number × capacity.” Yet in a situation where Japan’s total population and the number of university entrants are both declining, it seems difficult to maintain, let alone increase, the “Total intellectual capacity” merely by further enhancing the “quality of education and research.” Instead of understanding “number × capacity” only at the level of individuals and aiming to maximize the sum of individual capacities, I believe it is crucial to enrich the relationships among individuals and among organizations.

  Already, diverse networks are being formed: among universities within particular regions; between regional universities and those in major urban centers; and among institutions that share similar functions. Through such networks, students are expected to encounter a wide range of people and thereby increase their opportunities for learning and growth. The networks fostered by our Association, I believe, can also make a meaningful contribution to this endeavor.

  Regarding generative AI, two of our Association’s thematic research projects are devoted to this topic: one on generative AI and writing education, and another on the development of guidelines for the use of generative AI. In addition, many individual research presentations and round tables have taken up related themes. One of the strengths of our Association is that, when new technologies such as these emerge, members can share and discuss their own educational practices and experiments in response.

  Our Association will continue to strive to serve not only as a forum for sharing and exchanging research-based knowledge on university education, thereby contributing to the improvement of university education while keeping in view the broader structural changes surrounding universities, but also as a place where members can strengthen their research capacities in university education and exchange both the challenges and the joys they encounter in their daily work.

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  When I first assumed the presidency in 2023, I set out two aspirations: reform of our organizational structure and the strengthening of our international outreach. 

  In the present term there is no election for council members, and only two directors have been replaced—those who chose not to continue. The executive officers remain unchanged from the previous term. At the same time, there has been an important change in the Secretariat: Dr. Shohei Yamauchi, who served for many years as Secretary-General, has been succeeded by Dr. Yusuke Horii, formerly Deputy Secretary-General. In addition, in order to reduce the burden on host institutions for our annual conferences and thematic research meetings and to ensure the sustainability of these events as Association activities, we have reorganized the former Future Planning Committee into the Conference and Meeting Planning Committee, and established a structure to support the host institutions in managing these events.

  Regarding strengthening our international outreach, in December 2023 an agreement was concluded to establish the Asian Liberal Education Network (ALEN) among the Korean Association of General Education, the Chinese Association for General Education, and our Association. In September last year, thanks to the dedicated work of the International Committee chaired by Dr. Kazuhiro Sugimoto and the efforts of former President and then Executive Director in charge, Dr. Reiko Yamada, the 2nd Asian Liberal Education Conference (ALEC) was held at Tohoku University. Looking ahead, we intend to revitalize our collaboration with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), which has been stagnant in recent years.

  Precisely because we are living in a time of adversity for universities, I hope we can develop the activities of our Association in such a way that members feel that, through their participation, they have gained new insights, found new colleagues, and regained their energy. By valuing communication with all our members, directors, and council members, I hope that, as a sustainable and forward-looking academic association, we can continue to lead research and practice in university education.

  I would like to invite all of you who gather in this Association to help make its activities more engaging and vibrant in your own distinctive ways.

10 December 2025