Human ecology in Japan
Setouchi Global Academy founder Hiromi Nagao, center, and friends with some oranges from the school’s orchards.
By Anara Katz ’24
College of the Atlantic has a new affiliate school, the Setouchi Global Academy, located in Osakikamijima, Japan.
Setouchi Global Academy is a one-year program focused in interdisciplinary human ecology. Similar to COA, Setouchi is also a tiny institution located on an island that highlights place-based learning and ecologically reciprocal relationships to the surrounding environment. Drawing inspiration from College of the Atlantic and Ashoka, both of which have been educating and supporting social innovators for decades, Setouchi aims to present an alternative to the Japanese model of lecturing and compartmentalization, and help usher in an age of educational reform.
“I have been working for the betterment of Japanese higher education for many years and, after learning about COA, I am trying to make a fundamental educational model in Japan to let people know that education is not just paper work done in the classroom, but in an environment full of nature,” said Hiromi Nagao, founder and president of Setouchi Global Academy, professor of socio-lingusitics, and previous president of Hiroshima Christian Women’s College. “Students need to touch the soil and live with nature.”
Setouchi Global Academy, in collaboration with COA, held its inaugural courses in July of 2016 for the Human Ecology Lab & Island Odyssey (HELIO) summer institute. In 2020, the first year-round student enrolled in Setouchi. Since then, there have been eight students, three of which have come to COA to complete their degrees.
Students who attend Setouchi can come to COA as second-year students and then receive a COA degree. COA students are also offered opportunities to fly to Japan to study at Setouchi for residencies, senior projects, and monster courses. This collaboration has brought and will continue to bring many new, exciting, unique, and inspirational educational opportunities to both Setouchi Global Academy and College of the Atlantic.
