Kicking off AY2022 with our Hybrid Classrooms!

For beginning our Spring semester of the 2022 academic year, the NUCB Undergraduate School debuted its brand new version of the hybrid classroom to seamlessly bring together and connect all our students, physically and virtually at the same time. With the Government of Japan having opened its borders in March and our international students gradually entering the country, students currently in Japan attend the classes on campus while students currently abroad join the session simultaneously online.

Inspired by the hybrid auditoriums of Harvard Business School and drawing upon more than two years of experience in developing digital solutions to educational and global challenges, the system was conceived, developed, and constructed over the past months, with Participant-Centered Learning through Case Method teaching in mind, while delivering an intuitive teaching and learning experience for faculty and students, respectively.

Boasting a high-resolution camera for blackboard visibility, state-of-the-art audio equipment for ease of communication between participants and faculty, and multiple displays transporting online participants from all over the world straight into the classroom, the hybrid classroom represents yet another step we have taken toward a future full of possibilities for higher learning and to transcend physical borders and limitations.

Over the past month and particularly in the last week since our Spring semester kicked off, the campus has been bustling with students, absorbing knowledge and socializing inside and outside the classrooms as the cherry blossoms reached their peak, and it has been a great pleasure to see large numbers of international students re-enabling the diverse nature of our student body on campus, allowing echoes of multiple languages resonate in the campus.

For this Term 1, the Global BBA courses are held mostly in hybrid classrooms and from Term 2 onwards once all the students are in Japan, we will returning to fully on campus courses.