[Kochi KOSEN] Department of Social Design Engineering's Social Implementation Education Receives the "30th Engineering Education Award"

Kochi National College of Technology (Kochi KOSEN, Nankoku City, Kochi Prefecture; President: Mitsuru Muramoto) is engaged in social implementation education based on entrepreneurship education, which students learn in stages from their first to fifth year.

This time, the social implementation education practiced by the Department of Social Design Engineering has received the 30th (2025) Engineering Education Award.

What is the "Engineering Education Award"?

The Engineering Education Award is established by the Japan Society for Engineering Education (JSEE) to recognize achievements that have had a significant impact and contribution to the development of engineering education and engineer education in Japan through pioneering and innovative initiatives.

Reference: Engineering Education Award | Japan Society for Engineering Education
https://www.jsee.or.jp/about/award/jsee-prize (External link)

What is the social implementation education practiced by Kochi KOSEN?

The award was given for the initiative "Construction and Practice of a 5-Year Integrated, All-Student Mandatory Social Implementation Education Program Across Kochi Prefecture" (Candidate: Department of Social Design Engineering (Organization), Representative: Associate Professor Takuo Fujita).
Under the single department system of the Department of Social Design Engineering, our school has made the development of practical engineers who can contribute to society in collaboration with local communities a crucial pillar of its education.

We have established a social implementation education program based on entrepreneurship education, which students learn in stages from their first to fifth year. In particular, "Regional Collaboration Exercise" in the fourth year is a mandatory subject, and a system has been established where all students work on real-world problems in collaboration with local companies and municipalities. In this context, the systematic approach of providing social implementation experience throughout the entire curriculum as a regular subject, and making it mandatory for all students, was highly evaluated, leading to this award.

Towards further social implementation

Unlike many KOSENs that implement regional collaboration-type PBL, this initiative is an advanced practice nationwide in that it institutionalizes a system for students to experience social implementation throughout the entire curriculum as a regular subject and makes it mandatory for all students.

By establishing social implementation education as a mandatory, regular curriculum, and prefecture-wide initiative, it demonstrates new possibilities for engineering education and can serve as a guideline for future curriculum development in local KOSENs as a model case for social implementation education.

About Kochi National College of Technology

The environment surrounding Japan and the world is in a period of major transformation. As economic development progresses, social issues to be solved are becoming more complex, and it is becoming difficult for current social systems to achieve both economic development and the resolution of social issues. On the other hand, new technologies such as IoT, robots, and artificial intelligence (AI) are developing, and Japan, as a leading country in addressing challenges, aims to realize a new society that incorporates these advanced technologies into all industries and social life, achieving both economic development and the resolution of social issues.

Kochi KOSEN aims to foster human resources who can respond to future social changes and the needs of the times, by exposing them to knowledge and technologies in a wide range of fields, integrating specialized fields with multifaceted knowledge, and equipping them with judgment and human skills.

【School Outline】

School Name: National Institute of Technology, Kochi College

Location: 200-1 Monobe Otsu, Nankoku City, Kochi Prefecture

Representative: Mitsuru Muramoto

Established: 1963

URL: https://www.kochi-ct.ac.jp/

Business Content: College of Technology, Higher Education Institution