Universities in the Digital Age

Japan’s and Germany’s ambitious national frameworks of Society 5.0 and Industry 4.0 acknowledge the importance of education and research as key success factors in the digital transformation. Universities are not only to develop the necessary human capital and to contribute to technological advances, they are also to play key roles with regard to social inclusion and life-long learning. To do so, they are expected to deepen and widen cross-organizational and international cooperation. Last, but not least they are urged to adjust their core activities of teaching, research and administration to take advantage of new digital technologies. How are universities in Germany and Japan responding to these challenges? How do they see themselves affected? What strategies do they pursue? Our two speakers are best suited to answer these questions based on their leading positions and professional careers in higher education and research institutions in Germany and Japan.

Bernd Huber is Professor for Public Finance and has been President of LMU München, one of Europe’s premier academic and research institutions, since 2002. Among others, he is member of the Scientific Council to the German Ministry of Finance, and the Strategic Committee of Sorbonne University as well as the International Advisory Committee of Renmin University in Peking. He served as referee for the University Excellence Initiatives in Spain and France, and chaired the Quality Audit of the University of Vienna. Professor Huber was also chairman of the League of European Research Universities from 2008 until 2014.

Miho Funamori, is Strategy Manager at the Research Center for Open Science and Data Platform newly set up in April 2017 at the National Institute of Informatics in Japan. Having worked for ten years at the headquarter of The University of Tokyo she is very knowledgeable about higher education policy and university management domestically and internationally. Prior to joining academia, she worked at the Office for International Cooperation, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). She is Expert Member of the Japan Association of National Universities and Board Director of FORCE11, The Future of Research Communication and e-Scholarship community.