Japanese university education pays attention to autonomous learning ability. Generally speaking, it is easy to study from undergraduate to master's degree, but the pressure of graduation in doctoral stage is very great. On the one hand, China students have to cope with the pressure of their studies; on the other hand, they have to rely on part-time jobs to cope with the high Japanese prices.
A simple course
In the interview, the reporter found that most students in China reported that the Japanese teaching content and curriculum were "simple". Tokyo Digital Hollywood College is a university specializing in training digital content professionals. Jincheng, who is studying animation here, told reporters that if language barriers are removed, most theoretical courses in Japanese universities are too simple for international students.
He said that the school will offer a five-day introductory course in the first year of college, and the teaching purpose is to let students communicate with each other and plan the goal of the university for four years. After entering the sophomore year, there is a compulsory course "autonomous learning", which analyzes whether there is any deviation from the goal of the freshman plan, and then introduces itself to the teacher, forms a group of five or six people, simulates a small enterprise, and drafts a plan in five days.
Many schools offer very practical courses. Take Digital Hollywood College as an example. As can be seen from the website of this school, English accounts for two of the compulsory courses for students. Other compulsory courses include introduction to digital production and other courses related to digital and media. Elective courses cover accounting basics, image economics, introduction to management and other subjects closely related to the market.
Invisible pressure
This kind of education in Japan seems to leave enough leisure time for students, but the reporter found in the interview that everyone from college students to doctoral students is talking about pressure, not only the pressure of life, but also the pressure of study.
Xiao Yana, who graduated from Peking University with a bachelor's degree, has quickly adapted to the "herding sheep" education, but she also admits that she is under great pressure. In her research room, everyone will make a "publication" every two or three weeks to report their research progress in front of teachers and all students. Many people said that every "publication" is a very painful process, and a lot of information about the subject needs to be collected.
Most science and engineering students are under the pressure of "publishing books", and "publishing books" has become a vocabulary that international students in China often talk about. Some graduate students stop all entertainment activities and get ready one week before publication. The academic pressure is more obvious in the doctoral stage. In addition to the daily pressure of "publishing", doctoral thesis is a long-term pressure. Some schools even require that doctoral dissertations be published before they can get their degrees.
Wang Jun believes that the biggest difficulty in studying in Japan is to get a degree in a limited time, which puts a lot of pressure on doctoral students and can only increase their study time.
Although Jincheng, who studied animation, didn't suffer from the paper, he also felt great pressure. He said that the teacher assigned a very large amount of homework every week. Animation 1 sec consists of 24 pictures, while a student can draw 5 pictures per hour on average. It is common for teachers to assign 10 second homework in class. Therefore, it takes students 8 hours to finish their homework every day. He said that sleeping is a luxury for animation professionals.
Education of "herding sheep"
Wang Jun, a doctoral student majoring in architecture in the Department of Science and Technology of Japan University, told reporters that doctoral education in Japan emphasizes students' independent research ability. At first, he was a little uncomfortable, but finally, through independent research and communication with Japanese students in the research room, he gradually adapted to this teaching method.
Wang Xing, a student studying animation at Digital Hollywood College, said that the Japanese education model tends to cultivate students' initiative, and the courses are mostly conducted in the form of discussion and participation in production. Even teachers should have the skills of teaching, listening and taking notes, because the key points are often given inadvertently.
Xiaoyana, who is studying for a master's degree in environmental science at the University of Tokyo, said that her usual study is to collect information, read professional papers and communicate with students in the laboratory, but the teachers in the laboratory basically don't care much about students.
This kind of "herding sheep" education is also very common among liberal arts students. A student studying for a doctorate in Japanese at Hiroshima University said that credits are generally completed in the first year of doctoral study. Since the second year, there are two one-on-one classes with teachers every week. Basically, teachers read the latest related professional papers first, then discuss them, and the rest of the time depends on self-study.