International Education

All Jesuit institutions worldwide seek through their educational activities to cultivate men of a certain profile. That profile consists of “men for others, with others”: men who live to benefit others as they live in their midst.
Since its opening in 1947, it has been the mission of Eiko Gakuen to develop leaders. By “leader” we do not mean those who compel others to do their bidding by force of authority, but men who lead by serving and contributing to the happiness of others.
The global society of the future will see rapid movement worldwide of people, goods and information. In such a world, what qualities will be required of the leaders produced by Eiko Gakuen?
Of course, some of these leaders will be active across borders, in a wide range of scenes internationally. Yet even those whose geographical scope is confined to a single region must be able to think and act from a global perspective based on Christian humanism. People who possess such qualities are called upon not to build walls to shut out the socially disadvantaged or to protect their own countries but to build bridges among the nations and peoples of the world and contribute to their happiness. As a Jesuit school, Eiko Gakuen strives to send out into the world people who can play active roles as true global leaders of this type.
A more detailed look at the profile of such leaders is provided below.

• 1. A man invested with wisdom rooted in Christian humanism, who seeks solutions to the problems confronting international society and doggedly pursues them until he has arrived at a solution
  (Empathizes with the poor and disadvantaged, concerns himself with and understands social problems, pursues his goals tenaciously)
• 2. A man who has a will to build communications with people of different national and cultural backgrounds and can make every effort to learn about those differences and overcome antagonism and schism
  (Communication skills, language skills, acceptance of other cultures)
• 3. A man with a global perspective who can find a road that people of the world can travel together, never sacrificing the needs of other countries to put his own country's interests first, but working in a mutually beneficial manner with others to build a new society
  (Logical faculty, social imagination, interest in problems on a global scale)

Those who never have the opportunity to venture outside their sphere of daily existence have few chances to learn how their country is positioned with respect to those around it or what sorts of things are expected of it. As a result they are unable to regard themselves objectively as humans living in the world. Students in this circumstance become myopic, setting only the objectives in front of their noses as their life goals.
The aim of Eiko Gakuen’s International Exchange Program is to cultivate the global leaders the world of the future will need: inter alia, the global leaders that a Jesuit education strives to produce. A unique characteristic of the International Exchange Program is that it marshals the global network of Jesuit educational institutions to achieve its aims.
However much the social, economic and cultural issues and conditions that educational institutions face may differ according to their countries or regions, the goals of a Jesuit education are the same. Through this understanding, Eiko Gakuen’s International Exchange Program aims to send into the world people who achieve the ideal profile of a graduate of a Jesuit school.