In the fall of 2019, North Central is switching from its long-established trimester system to semesters. While some are disappointed with the loss of a six-week break or have expressed concern over the distribution of credits, the change may hit especially hard for the Japanese department.
North Central currently offers study abroad programs in urban and rural locations throughout Japan. “The Japanese school year starts in April. The first semester ends at the end of July and a bit into August,” said North Central Japanese professor Fukumi Matsubara. With NCC students starting their spring term in April, they have a wider range of exchange programs throughout the year. The change to semesters brings concern of conflicting schedules with the five schools in Japan partnered with North Central.
“For the Japanese program, it is not really for the better,” said Matsubara. The change means conflicting schedules with the exchange programs. “One of the exchange schools in Kyoto, we have a contract of exchange for fall and winter. If we go to semesters, that program will be gone,” she said. Only two of the schools have programs for fall term. Nagoya, for instance, has “a special calendar for international students. They start in September and end in December,” Matsubara said.
“(Students) can get 15 weeks of experience in Japan by just missing 10 weeks of courses at North Central,” explained Matsubara. With the dawn of a semester system, a trip to Japan consuming half the year will be a choice requiring a bit more thought from those interested. Currently, study abroad is a requirement for Japanese majors, but the change to semesters and the aforementioned complications could change that. “I am making the study abroad an option, which is from my perspective sad because North Central’s Japanese program is strong because of study abroad,” said Matsubara.
As it is, North Central may be another in a long line of colleges following a trend. According to a 2016 article from EdSource by Larry Gordon, “only 12 percent of 2,340 U.S. four-year public and not-for-profit colleges and universities were fully on the (trimester) calendar in 1994; that dropped to just 6 percent by 2014.” The change is still some time away, and only time will tell whether it will be a boon or a bane to North Central students.
2 Comments
As much as I appreciate this, the picture provided for the article has nothing to do with the Japanese Program. That is in fact things that were used during a Chinese Festival held here on Campus.
Oh and Dr. Matsubara is female