CELCIS offers short-term business study
abroad English program for Japan students

This is the second year WMU’s Career English Language Center for International Students has offered this program for Ritsumeikan students, in which enrollment has nearly tripled from the first cohort of 11 students in fall 2007. WMU is the only United States university to partner with RU for this English-language business abroad program for native Japanese speakers. Similar courses have been arranged for RU students in China and New Zealand.

The Ritsumeiken group in front of the house on Elm St. of Nagai Kafu,
a very famous Japanese author, who lived there in the early 1900's

“The students adjusted rapidly to life on Western's campus, and became more confident in using their English,” said Robert Dlouhy, CELCIS master faculty specialist and one of the instructors for the group. “The instructors were happy with the students’ improved fluency in spoken English, and we were impressed by the short research reports that they wrote.”

Students attended class five hours daily in three courses: Business Writing, Business Topics and Business Conversation. The courses were taught by CELCIS faculty members Robert Dlouhy, Rebecca Janson, Eva Copija, and Dael Kurti.

The program also featured guest lectures by professors in WMU’s Haworth College of Business and executives from Japanese companies in Battle Creek, Mich. Field trips provided an inside look at companies, including Kalsec and the Chicago Board of Trade, and recreational outings to Saugatuck (a Lake Michigan community) and Binder Park Zoo. In collaboration with WMU’s Michitoshi Soga Japan Center, the students also visited two Japan-based companies in Battle Creek—Denso and I.I. Stanley – as well as Battle Creek Unlimited, a community development organization.

The students also experienced WMU’s rich campus life and they learned about Bronco school spirit while attending WMU Bronco Football’s home opener on September 6.

On the beach, Lake Michigan

WMU’s partnership with RU began with a June 2005 meeting at Ritsumeikan attended by WMU professors Drs. Jeffrey Angles and Stephen Covell and Brett Berquist, Haenicke Institute executive director of International Programs. The WMU contingent was seeking a new exchange partner in the Kyoto/Kansai area. Ritsumeikan officials showed significant interest in collaborating with WMU, as they are aggressively expanding their exchange network in response to a presidential mandate to achieve a high quota of Ritsumeikan students on study abroad.

The core of WMU’s Japanese faculty (Drs. Jeffrey Angles, Stephen Covell, Patricia Lambert, Laura Spielvogel, Takashi Yoshida, Rika Saito, and Michitoshi Soga) hold Ritsumeikan in high regard and have several direct academic links. Ritsumeikan and WMU exchanged their first group of students in 2007-2008, and additional projects are in preparation with Ritsumeikan through the Michitoshi Soga Japan Center at WMU.

“The students have enjoyed this program very much,” said Dr. Yoshiyuki Ishizaki, faculty advisor for the group. “Many of them wish it would last longer, and many want to come back again!”

The 2008 Ritsumeikan University group:

Yui Ansaka, Kyosujke Kanesaki, Haruka Komatsu, Natsumi Kurokawa, Keisuke Maitani, Hiroto Morita, Kota Naito, Kenji Nakano, Masumi Nishihara, Kohei Ogihara, Momoko Otani, Akihiro Tao, Shimpei Yamamoto, Yusuke Yoshida, Naoki Yoshikawa, Takanori Funano, Hidetaka Higashihara, Nobuya Hirayama, Keijiro Ichikawa, Yoko Kawamura, Seung Mi Ko, Ryo Miyazaki, Shohei Mizoguchi, Mayu Morita, Fumiya Nakaba, Ryuta Oikawa, Yuki Shibuya, Daiki Shimizu, Megumi Taguchi, Noriko Tanijiri.