[Interview] Principal Osamu Ide―“Making a school that will never be completed”―

This is Hirose, PR from IICA.
This time, we had an interview with IICA’s founder, Mr. Ide.

We learned from Mr. Ide about the background of the establishment of IICA, what kind of learning space IICA will become, and information about order-type education.
For those students who have set IICA as their future goal, Mr. Ide has messages for you!

The charming natural landscape of Aso is enough to make up for the inconvenience. From now on, Aso still has many possibilities.

―Thank you for joining our interview today. Please briefly introduce yourself.

Hello, I am Ide. Well, where shall I start with...
I was born in Minamiaso, Kumamoto.
I have been in Kumamoto before graduated from university. After started working, I joined Recruit as my first job. Recruit is one of the largest companies nowadays, but when I joined this company in 1986, it was a venture company with a lot of young employees.
My work in Recruit was interesting, and if I want to, I can do even more interesting work.
After spending 10 years there, a department for solving local issues was established.
This also become my life work. From Okinawa to Hokkaido, I worked on issues such as depopulation and tourism promotion all over Japan.
Then, in 2006, I established the company "Idea Partners" to assist in the regional revitalization of Kyushu.
Recently, I am working on the biggest walk an eat event in Japan, which is called “Bar Walk Fukuoka”, and the ticket for enjoying yadai culture in Fukuoka.

―Thank you so much. First of all, what made you set up IICA?

One of the reasons is, Kumamoto Earthquake in April, 2016. Minamiaso suffered great damage due to the earthquake, and the Aso campus of Tokai University in Minamiaso was completely destroyed. About 800 university students had to leave Minami Aso as a result. In order to recover Minamiaso from the earthquake, the villagers hope to rebuild the school.

The second reason is, there are few IT and tourist talented people in Kumamoto Prefecture. Japan’s IT (Information Technology) industry is facing with the difficulty of retain talented people in this field nowadays. Because many IT talented people went to work in urban areas, Kumamoto is facing a shortage of talented people. In addition, the demand for tourism talents for domestic tourism and regional economic related industries has increased. Now in 2021, due to the impact of Covid-19, the tourism industry has been hit hard, but after the end of Covid-19, it is an industry that will definitely be revitalized. For tourism-related companies in Kumamoto Prefecture, which has many tourism resources such as Aso Kuju National Park and Kumamoto Castle, there is already a shortage of talented people. In order to be able to provide talented people directly for the companies, an education organization is necessary.

To build a new school is not quite easy. The ownership of school buildings, school management knowledge, personnel security, many things started from 0. However, with the cooperation of the company and the people related to school, also the support of Kumamoto Prefecture and Minamiaso, I being able to pass my plan from Kumamoto Prefectural Private School Council after two years, and established a school in March 31, 2021.
This is not a thing that I can success on my own, I have been helped by many people who agree with the school's philosophy.

―What kind of school do you think IICA is?

IICA's vision is to develop human resources who will lead the next generation and 100 years from Kumamoto.
What kind of talented people will be active in 100 years? For me, it is the talented people who can "create opportunities by themselves” and “change himself with opportunities." These talented people have the ability to solve problems and can continue to grow.
By the way, I would like to talk about the origin of the school's name "IDEA IT College Aso". IDEA means opinion and concepts, and it also contains the passion that I want to cultivate talented people in IT and other fields.

There are four specific characteristics in total.
① Use "order-typed education" to cultivate professional ability.
IICA uses "order-typed education". In IICA, we train professionals to meet the needs of companies by their order. By cooperation with companies, we will use appropriate curriculum content and teachers that match the needs of current and future companies, and cultivate talented people in the IT and tourism fields.

②To cultivate "learning habits" = "thinking power"
Cooperate with professional knowledge and skills to improve the quality of education. Among them, we will focus on cultivating "learning habits." "Learning habits" represent the ability to think, explore, and ask questions, as well as the ability to think for yourself and express your opinions in your own words. Students will get an unprecedented experience (seeing, touching and feeling real things) through the nature of Aso to deepen their thinking and inquiry skills.

③ Diversity through "Peer Learning"
At IICA, Japanese students will study with international students, and we have introduced a "peer learning" system regardless of nationality, age, and so on. Students with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds help each other, learn and grow while cooperating with others, and learn the value of diversity.

④ Get close to every student’s career
IICA is a school composed of 80 students in 2 departments, with 40 students in each grade. Compared with universities, it is relatively smaller. This is why we are able to do our best to understand and help everyone's career (future job and working methods). Currently (2021), due to Covid-19, students are restricted by online courses and their life had been affected. There are no chances to share their mental feelings under this situation. IICA will set up a dedicated career consultant to not only support student’s future employment and working methods, but also support daily life.

― Please tell us what kind of place Minamiaso(Aso) is.

For the students, what kind of merit and demerit the students will face in the school located in Minamiaso?
Demerit is, compare with the urban area, life in Minamiaso is more inconvenient. If you are in an urban area, you can reach supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, karaoke, and convenience stores easily, as long as you walk or use bicycles. Unfortunately, these stores are relatively few near IICA. Of course, there are apartments near the school where students lived before, and we will also prepare dormitories and provide buses between the school and the downtown. But it is still very inconvenient.

So, what are the merits? That is the charm of nature Aso that can make up for the inconvenience in life. Aso has the world’s number one caldera, and it is also an agricultural land recognized as a world agricultural heritage. IICA is a place where you can use these resources to learn IT technology. There is practical learning system that cannot be experienced anywhere else.
In addition, we will also ensure that each student has a part-time job. During the earthquake, there were hundreds of students who worked in hotels, restaurants, and tourist facilities in tourist destinations visited by 4 million people each year. Nowadays, local businesses also have demand for these human resources.

―Please tell us the outlook of IICA in the future.

IICA is recruiting students for the school opening in April 2022. The open campus was held in August, and "Campfire open campus" was held. In the school, participants raised a campfire together and discussed their career by the campfire. This is not a possible thing in schools in the urban area. Also, in April 2022, Japanese students and international students from all over Japan will be enrolled, and "peer learning" under different cultural backgrounds is what I expect. I hope this school can become an international school.

Among the people who got the information from IICA and came to consult, there are many people who are already doing job hunting and jobs changing, or people who want to skill up. The "order-typed education" of IICA is, receives orders from companies and trains talented people according to their needs. We are thinking of providing a "recurrent education = re-learning program for employed people" for those who aim to find a job, job changing, or improve their skills in the IT and tourism fields.
In the "Recurrent Education Program", we are thinking of designing a program that even those who are working now can learn something from us.

―So after graduating from IICA, what kind of pathways are waiting for the graduates?

There are 40 cooperative companies in the field of IT and tourism service industry with our "order-type education" system (August 2021). My idea is that students here will do the internship and find a job in these companies. In addition, because it is an education system to train specialists, I think the knowledge and experience the students will gain from here can be applied to Kumamoto and other companies throughout Japan. I hope that the graduates here can become people who contribute to Japan and the world.

―Last, please give some messages to students who are considering apply IICA.

IICA wants to be a "school that will never be completed". After the school opens in April 2022, we will continue to create new possibilities. "Never be completed" in other words means "continuous improvement". We want to create a better school for students, parents, teachers, companies, and the local area.
Then, for the students who enrolled in April 2022, they are all the first enrollments. In addition to learning specialized knowledge and experience, the students can create the history for IICA which is a kind of exciting thing in my opinion.

All the teachers and staff members, including myself, the principal, are fascinated by the excitement of creating a new school. Let’s experience Aso together. We are waiting for your application.

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IICA began accepting applications for AO admissions in July.
We are looking forward to your application.
https://iica.jp/post242/

We are holding open campus event now.
Please come and join us.
https://iica.jp/open-campus/

Check our SNS and official website from this link!
https://linktr.ee/ideaitcollegeaso