Cooperative Education Program
in School of Information and Data Science of
Hiroshima University
Learning for the Society,
Experience for the Future.
First "Cooperative Education" program
in national universities
School of Information and Data Science of Hiroshima University reorganized its curriculum for undergraduates into three major programs and introduced the three study models: "Basics", "Integration", and "Practice".
Particularly, the study model "Practice" provides education based on long-term corporate internship through academia and industry collaboration. This model adopts the "Cooperative Education" strategy that allows students to experience the practical works at the company and improve their skills which they obtained in the lectures while being registered in the university. This is the first case of such a cooperative education program for the digital technology field, which is provided as a regular course in a national university. To develop digital talents for the future, Hiroshima University will continue to provide new education models which integrate theories and practices.
Message from the Dean of School
Co-op Education in School of Information and Data Science of Hiroshima University
The co-op education of the School of Information and Data Science is the first glocal cooperative education program＊1 in national university that aims to provide the education at the global standard level based on the academia and industry collaboration. Hiroshima University joins the WACE＊2 which aims to advance the "cooperative and all other forms of work-integrated education" while cooperating with universities and companies in the world as a full institutional partner. Under this concept and vision, we will promote the glocal cooperative education with universities all over the world.
＊1…The Glocal Cooperative Education is a regular education program that is led by a university to integrate the study in the university and the internship outside the university to provide opportunities for practical learning while being engaged in an actual business based on a long-term employment in a glocal company.
＊2…WACE(World Association for Co-operative and Work Integrated Education) is a non-profit organization that consists of approximately 1,000 education institutions, corporations, organizations, and individuals from 52 countries, which is headquartered at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is the only international organization that is engaged in development, promotion, and branding of "Cooperative & Work-integrated Education (CWIE）including co-op education" which is conducted under cooperation between an education organization and the industry.
Participating companies
Flow of practical and business subjects
The School of Information and Data Science provides six practical and business subjects for the co-op education.
Particularly, the "long-term fieldwork" is a characteristic subject in which students are engaged in an internship for eight months in total to experience the actual business process.
Lecture overview
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Information processing and industry
The omnibus lectures are provided by companies to introduce the up-to-date efforts for DX which are carried out in each company. Students learn how the study and learning in the School of Information and Data Science can be used in the industry and society and understand the actual situation of DX that is accelerated in various industries. They also discuss the way to use the knowledge and skills of information science.
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Data science and management
The lecturers invited from companies and public agencies present cases in their organizations.
Students learn the actual situation of DX which is accelerated in various industries and discuss and review the way for using the knowledge of data science and management skills. -
Cutting edge of informatics
Students learn the trend of the study that is advanced at the front end of the information science in the lecture provided by prominent researchers in Japan. The lecture is provided based on the problems and data in the actual society to allow students to think about the practical challenges from the academic point of view.
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Project study
Students are engaged in the study and development project in the company as an intern for five days consecutively during the summer vacation. They are expected to obtain diverse capabilities required in the real company.
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Long-term fieldwork I
Students are engaged in paid business in a company for approximately four months. They exercise the knowledge and skills that they have learned in the university and present the result in the debriefing meeting.
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Long-term fieldwork II
Students are engaged in paid business in the same company as the first long-term fieldwork for approximately four months to improve the capability for applying the knowledge and skills in a practical situation. They present the result in the debriefing meeting.
Voices from students who joined the long-term fieldwork
The following is interviews with students who participated in the long-term fieldwork about the process leading to their determinations for the career.
They talked about their growth story including what they learned in their internship destinations and how they made use of their re-learning period.
Fourth-year student
Haruya Yoshida
Program: Data Science Program
Internship destination: FUKKEN CO.,LTD.
Long-term fieldwork I
I joined a department responsible for promoting DX both inside and outside the company and was engaged in the development of a VR-based system for simulating disaster situations to help people improve their preparedness. Attending meetings with the client and understanding the overall picture, I learned the importance of the vision for the goal of carrying out the assigned tasks efficiently under various constraints.
Re-learning period
At my part-time job, I independently proposed and developed a business system to put what I had learned in my internship destination into practice. I conducted interviews to identify what the employees and colleagues want regarding challenges in the workplace and advanced the development while presenting the overall picture and benefits of the system to gain the support and understanding of the related people.
Long-term fieldwork II
I was entrusted as the primary organizer of a workshop regarding the generative AI for 20 employees. I successfully carried out the entire process from planning to debriefing. In the planning phase which was the most challenging for me, I first identified the goals to be achieved in the workshop and designed the structure based on a narrative which would lead the participants to the goals. In addition, I also made a point of clearly defining the purpose of each part and communicating it to the employees in charge.
Career prospects
To conduct research that reflects what I learned through my practical work experience, I decided to advance to the graduate school. In the graduate school, I will deepen my logical thinking skills through both the mastery of advanced theory and research activities which require evidences to be collected. I intend to take on my research challenges while maintaining the mindset of always being aware of the goals, which I developed through the long-term fieldwork.
Advances to
graduate school
Fourth-year student
Raito Tsutsumi
Program: Intelligence Science Program
Internship destination: DreamArts Corporation
Long-term fieldwork I
I was engaged in the development of a tool that is actually used in the company and selected functions of a mobile application. In addition to the technical skills required to be an IT engineer, I learned the importance of writing easy-to-understand code and documentation while considering that the development team would read them.
Re-learning period
I applied the thinking and technical skills which I had obtained through the long-term fieldwork to develop Web applications at the university research institute. To allow the other person to take over the role of the team leader and to easily maintain and operate the application even after I will leave the team, I advanced the development while improving the existing codes and organization.
Long-term fieldwork II
I joined a project that aimed at achieving a system for "non-stop operation" which allows to manage the system while keeping the company's services available. Because such a system can affect all the services, it was implemented after extensive research, testing, and review. Through the course of carrying out my tasks, I obtained the perspective required for working as a professional.
Career prospects
After graduating, I will join a company as an IT engineer. In my job hunting, the practical work experience that I had obtained became my strength. Leveraging this experience, I will actively engage in my work after joining the company and try to further develop my technical expertise and practical skills to earn the trust of my colleagues early as an IT engineer who is capable of making a meaningful contribution.
Will join a company as
an IT engineer
Real story of the long-term fieldwork
told by
host organization representatives
and students
Participate in our university's co-op education program
The school of Information and Data Science of Hiroshima University is currently recruiting companies to participate in the co-op education program. Positive feedback has been given by the participating companies regarding the benefit in securing talent and achievement in working with students. If you would like to participate, please contact us using the details below.
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We participated because we thought it would be a good opportunity to apply new ideas that the students provide for our work while advancing DX within the company. It was a good stimulus for our employees.
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Thanks to this internship, we became aware of the importance of developing young talents within the company. We will continue to collaborate with the university to develop excellent digital talent.
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To teach is to learn. Our young engineers gained a lot of learning through this internship. We are very grateful for this opportunity.
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This initiative is beneficial for both companies and students. We hope that the number of participants will increase and the program will continuously evolve in the future.
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It is pleasant that the students have realized that there are opportunities to work in industries that are unfamiliar to IT students. The talented students contributed to our business by making proposals based on their young sensibilities.
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I think this is a groundbreaking initiative, which is the first case of its kind in a national university. We really appreciate such a wonderful program provided by Hiroshima University.
Contact
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