Sali Augustine
Chancellor
Sophia School Corporation

The Sophia School Corporation ran a selection process for selecting the next President of Sophia University in accordance with the Regulations Concerning the Selection of Sophia University President from April through September 2024.

   At the Board of Trustees meeting held on September 30, all procedures to select the next President (to take office on April 1, 2025) were completed; and therefore, the selection process is reported as provided below:

Ⅰ．Procedures for Selecting next President (Outline)

The next President of Sophia University was selected following the procedures provided below, under the Board of Trustees and University President Candidates Selection Committee (hereinafter, “Selection Committee”).

Ⅱ．Sophia University presidential selection process

1.　Decision on and announcement of Criteria for Selection of Sophia University President

The Criteria for Selection of Sophia University President (*) was adopted at the Board of Trustee meeting held on March 27, 2024 and announced on March 29.

＊In formulating the criteria for the selection of the President, The Working Group for Examining the Criteria for the selection of the President of Sophia University was established under the Board of Trustees, after which the criteria for the selection of the President were examined based on the existing one that was established in FY2020.

2.　Establishment of the University President Candidates Selection Committee

The Board of Trustees established the Selection Committee on April 1. Committee members are as follows:

*1  Until June 12
*2  From June 13 
*3  Until May 31: Managing Director, NHK World Department, Until July 31: Executive Controller, General Media Administration, NHK
*4  Until June 30: Director, Bureau of Academic Research and Information

Roles of the Committee are as follows:
(1) Recruitment of recommendations of candidates by faculty/staff members and committee members
(2) Selection of candidates
(3) Preparation of documents on candidates and implementation of investigations of the candidates

3.　Selection of University President Candidates by Selection Committee

(1) Recommendation of candidates
Based on the Criteria for Selection of Sophia University President, the recruitment of recommendations of candidates for University President announced to faculty and staff members on April 11, on which the Selection Committee was also requested to make recommendations.

Five recommendation was made by a faculty/staff members and 13 recommendations were made by Selection Committee members, resulting in eight after eliminating overlapping recommendations.

As a result of deliberations at the 2^nd Selection Committee meeting on May 20, seven candidates were selected to be included in the list of candidates for President.

(2) Document review
A document review was conducted for the seven recommended candidates in accordance with the Criteria for Selection of Sophia University President.

(3) Selection of interviewees

1. At the 3^rd Selection Committee meeting on June 12, 2024 based on the results of the document review, prospective interviewees were selected. Three out of the seven recommended candidates gained a majority vote of the committee members present and were thus selected as interviewees.
2. Selected interviewees were requested to formulate a document on the interviewee’s personal history, experience in university management, major achievements in academic research, membership in academic societies, and social contribution activities, as well as a document giving the interviewee’s opinions as prospective University President Candidate.

(4) Interviews
On July 18, 22 and 24, Selection Committee members conducted interviews with the three interviewees.

(5) Selection of University President Candidate

1. At the 5^th Selection Committee meeting on July 30, University President Candidates were selected based on the documents formulated by the interviewees pursuant to subsection (3)2 and interview results graded by members of the Selection Committee. Two out of the three interviewees gained the consent of at least two-thirds of the committee members present and were thus selected as University President Candidates.
2. Material on the University President Candidate, including each University Presidents Candidate’s personal history and views, was formulated.

(6) Reporting to the Board of Trustees
The two University President Candidates were reported to the meeting of Board of Trustees held on July 31.

(7) Announcement to University members
On September 2, the two University President Candidates were announced to faculty and staff members with their personal histories and views. On the same day, videos of the University President Candidates were also made available.

4．Investigation of University President Candidates

The Selection Committee conducted an Investigation of University President Candidates (hereinafter, “Investigation” /a multidimensional investigation to evaluate University President Candidates on multiple aspects held online during the period September 2-September 17, 2024) on the two University President Candidates that engaged faculty and staff members qualified to join the investigation (faculty and staff members who had been employed for at least three years as of the investigation deadline; hereinafter, “Qualified Members”), by posting the Material on University President Candidates on the Sophia Bulletin Board (digital bulletin board for faculty and staff members).

The number of Qualified Members, number of evaluators and response rate are as follows (rounded to the first decimal place):

5．Selection/Investigation Reporting to the Board of Trustees and Selection of next President by the Board of Trustees

The Selection Committee reported on the selection process of University President Candidates and the results of the Investigation to the Board of Trustees ad hoc meeting held on September 30. At the meeting on September 30, the following University President Candidate was selected next President after comprehensive deliberations based on the report and Criteria for Selection of Sophia University President.

Next President of Sophia University: Miki Sugimura (Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, Sophia University)

Selection Reason:
She was judged to be the right person to serve as president of Sophia University with the following considerations:

The ability to demonstrate leadership based on the university’s founding principles amid the world’s diversity and rapid change, and boldly work on university reform together with university members based on the medium- to long-term plan “Grand Layout 3.0.”

In addition, with a desire to contribute to sustainable social development that emphasizes human dignity and inclusiveness, she aims to establish a new international education model that leverages our global network, which is our strength, and lead our university to become an international research university.

6．Announcement of next Sophia University President and Investigation results

The Board of Trustees announced the appointment of the next Sophia University President on September 30.

On the same day, the Selection Committee made the Investigation results available for viewing by posting a URL link to the results on the Sophia Bulletin Board with the restriction that only Sophia account holders may access, but not download the results.