Ellen Mashiko

Executive Director, Scholarship Division

　

Good morning and welcome! On behalf of The Tokyo Foundation, I extend thanks and appreciation to each and everyone of you for the preparation prior to your arrival and for traveling to Japan for this meeting. I know that you are always very busy, including some who are in the midst of teaching, and that the SYLFF Program is but one of your many responsibilities. My colleagues and I hope that during the next few days, you'll forget about all of those responsibilities back home and join us in considering The Next 15 Years of the SYLFF Program.

　

Since the establishment of The Tokyo Foundation in July 1997, the Scholarship Division has attempted to increase communication with SYLFF institutions and fellows and to build an infrastructure that is responsive to the needs and wishes of all stakeholders―SYLFF institutions and fellows, and The Nippon Foundation and The Tokyo Foundation.

　

In addition to visiting as many SYLFF institutions as possible to meet with steering committees and fellows we have consulted and worked with an International Advisory Committee (IAC). With us during this meeting are two of the five members. They are Caroline Yang, who chairs the IAC, and serves as the chair of the J. William Fulbright Board of Foreign Scholarship that oversees the worldwide Fulbright Program and Dr. M.K. Tadjudin, Chairman of the National Accreditation Board for Higher Education that has responsibility for assessing some 10,000 academic programs in Indonesia. Other members are Mr. Mikio Kato, Executive Director of the International House of Japan whom you will meet later this week; Dr. Hans van Ginkel, Rector of the United Nations University based here in Tokyo; and Mr. Reizo Utagawa, Executive Director for International Affairs of The Nippon Foundation. Unfortunately, Dr. van Ginkel and Mr. Utagawa are unable to be with us due to previous commitments.

　

SYLFF is just 15 years old and like real-life teenagers, we are filled with excitement, ambition and concern about the future. From both foundations' viewpoints, there are three foci as we look to the future-enhancing the respective fellowship programs, developing programs and activities that strengthen collaborative relationships among SYLFF institutions, and building a network or a cluster of networks of SYLFF fellows and institutions.

　

・Enhancing the respective fellowship programs

　

All SYLFF institutions are empowered to manage their SYLFF endowments and to administer the SYLFF fellowship programs at their respective institutions. The Tokyo Foundation s Scholarship Division -has been designated to not only monitor SYLFF endowments and fellowship programs but to assist in strengthening fund management and fellowship program administration. In concrete terms, we look forward to consultations with SYLFF institutions, for example, when new investment opportunities arise or when new academic programs are established and wish to be considered under the SNIFF Program. More about this in a few minutes.

　

・Developing programs and activities that strengthen collaborative relationships among SYLFF institutions

　

To quote Itty Abraham of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), "A moment's reflection tells us that the best kinds of collaboration promise rewards...far beyond the abilities of a single [person]. Apart from the obvious feature of adding to the expertise of a single person, the synergies of small groups working together make possible insights and understandings that cannot be predicted. But more important, collaboration allows the nature of the problem being discussed to enlarge itself beyond the formulations of a single individual constrained by his or her discipline [and profession], coming much closer to the multi-dimensional character of most social problems [and human concerns]."

　

Collaboration is easier said than done but SYLFF follow-up programs have demonstrated that outcomes are all the more enriched and experiences far more rewarding than when individuals work alone.

　

There are now 65 endowed institutions and consortia, a total of 84 institutions in 43 countries. We can surely work together in dealing with the content of various issues and perhaps more importantly with the inter-connectedness of various issues and the processes by which issues are identified, approached and resolved.

　

・Building a network or group of networks of SYLFF fellows and institutions

　

At last count, there were more than 8,500 SYLFF fellows throughout the world. Two of our challenges are how to draw upon and mobilize this wealth of human resources, that is enriched by diversity, and how to engage individuals and institutions in network-wide learning and action. If only ten percent of all SYLFF fellows engage in the start-up and implementation of local, regional, global and/or issue based networks we are still talking about a sizeable force.

　

What about the first 15 years of the SYLFF Program? The first endowment was presented to The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1987. As this graph shows, there were three years when the number of universities were endowed peaked-those years were 1988, 1989 and 1992.

　

SYLFF follow-up programs including the JREX, JREX Selection Committee, Visit Japan, Forum and AFEX programs were initiated in 1994. More about follow-up programs in a few minutes.

　

SYLFF network-wide meetings have been convened five times beginning with the Beijing conference in 1993 that brought together SYLFF fellows and administrators, and then SNIFF administrators' meetings in Vancouver, Barcelona, Uppsala, San Diego and now Tokyo. We certainly remember and appreciate the strong support of Peking University, Uppsala University and the University of California, San Diego for hosting us in the past; this week, Keio University and Waseda University will host us.

　

Let me return to the matter of enhancing the respective SNIFF Programs. Endowments were presented based on Agreements between The Nippon Foundation and your institutions. We now have two mechanisms in place to enhance the SYLFF fellowship programs-Addendums and Memoranda of Understanding. The Addenda, to be signed by The Nippon Foundation and the institutions, formalize the assignment of administrative responsibilities for the SYLFF Program to The Tokyo Foundation, and thereby provide an opportunity for limited changes to the Agreement via Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between The Tokyo Foundation and the institutions, particularly with regard to Appendix 1 banking and investment matters and Appendix 2 objectives and scope of the program, allocation of disposable income, and update of fellowship amounts. We have completed the signing of Addenda and MOUs with several institutions, and now are m the process of finalizing the same with a dozen additional institutions. Let me point out, that the preparation of Addenda are not necessary for institutions where endowments were established from 1997 onwards.

　

If any SYLFF institutions would like to propose changes to Appendices 1 and 2, we need to hear from you in writing about the proposed revisions. We shall of course welcome any questions during the week or afterwards.

　

Let us now turn to the transformation of SYLFF follow-up programs. Shown on this chart are the six follow-up programs that were initiated in 1994, the four proposed new follow-up programs (shown in italics) and the scheme of transformation.

　

Beginning at the top of the page, as you already know, the Administrators & Faculty Exchange (AFEX) Program has already been transformed into the Program Development Award (PDA) this year. Note that the Program Development Award is designed to give full-time staff (with or without faculty rank) that have designated responsibility for the proposed activity an opportunity to initiate or activate student exchange programs at the graduate level with other SYLFF institutions. This focus includes activity such as the development of joint degree and so-called sandwich programs at the master's and doctoral levels within the parameters of the social sciences and humanities (and we of course include music). Why did we transform the APEX Program into the PDA Program? As I noted earlier, the foundation wishes to strengthen collaborative relationships among SYLFF institutions (and there are now 84 institutions in the SYLFF network), and build a viable SYLFF network. We therefore decided to support visits among SYLFF institutions only.

　

The SYLFF Forum Program has been terminated, and resources will be reallocated to new initiatives. Why has the forum program, as it was known through 2001, been terminated? First, let me say that conferences, seminars and meetings convened under the SYLFF Forum Program were successful the foundation's decision to terminate this program does not reflect upon the successful outcomes of the forums that were selected and supported. The decision was made to reallocate resources to new initiatives that have the potential of opening doors to and reaching a wider range of fellows, including graduated and currently enrolled fellows.

The Joint Research & Exchange (JREX) Program will be terminated as of summer 2003, when the last group of 30 projects selected in summer 2002 are reviewed. Why is this program being terminated? Although, the Scholarship Division received an increasing number of applications over the past five years, applications were heavily skewed to a handful of institutions. We also learned through direct contact with SNIFF fellows at many institutions that despite their interest in applying for a JREX award, most were unable to apply due to heavy academic workloads and tight degree requirements. Again, the foundation decided to reallocate resources from the JREX Program to new initiatives.

　

With the termination of this program, opportunities for service on the JREX Selection Committee also cease. I take this opportunity to express appreciation to two of our colleagues, Shirley Clark and Peter Scheid, for their service as academic advisors to successive JREX Selection Committees.

　

The last deadline for the Visit Japan Program is May 15, 2003. This program is being terminated since we now have two SYLFF institutions in Japan-Keio and Waseda-and resources will be reallocated to new initiatives.

　

Items (7)through (10)are the new initiatives-SYLFF Fellows' Mobility Program, SYLFF Regional Forums, SYLFF Network Program and SYLFF Prize-that are being forward for discussion during this meeting during Sessions IV through IX so I shall not speak about these proposed new programs at this time.

　

The goals of this meeting are:

　

We are most grateful to all of you who discussed the Questionnaire with your respective steering committees and completed the numerous questionnaire items. Your responses have been collated into summary form. I am sure that the session convenors and presenters will refer to it; I know that the Scholarship Division shall turn to your responses in great detail after this meeting.

　

The goals of the proposed SYLFF regional forums are:

Sessions VII and VIII on Wednesday morning will focus on the SYLFF regional forums. I mention this new initiative here because plans are in place to convene these regional forums in April, June and October 2003, dates which are right around the corner, and because the regional forums will extend the discussion of key matters to graduated and currently enrolled SYLFF fellows who are selected to represent their institutions.

　

Finally, what are the next steps?

This meeting brings together representatives from all SYLFF institutions with the exception of York University (Canada) and University of Oslo. Some institutions, including Comenius University of Bratislava, Howard University, Vietnam National University, Xinjiang University and Yunnan University are represented by two persons. I take this opportunity to thank these universities for supporting the participation of the second person.

　

For about 44% of our colleagues, this is their first SYLFF meeting so I hope the "old-timers" will lend a helping hand to these newcomers.

　

Other family members, who will join us at the welcome reception and farewell dinner, including our colleagues from The Nippon Foundation, Tatsuya Tanami, Yasunobu Ishii and Keiko Mori.

　

A custom that has evolved from the first network-wide SYLFF meeting back in 1993 is that we use first names in addressing each other. Our agenda is serious but we are a group of colleagues and friends. So now let's roll up our sleeves and get on with the business of our meeting.