The Nippon Foundation Dwango Gakuen Preparatory Committee, a general incorporated association, has announced that it will be inviting many popular professional creators as guest lecturers for creative-related subjects at ZEN University (tentative name, application for establishment approval pending), an online university aiming to open in April 2025.
According to the Nippon Foundation Dwango Gakuen Preparatory Committee, for creative courses they are partnering with Pixiv Inc., which operates the "pixiv" platform for posting illustrations, manga, and novels. With professional creators as lecturers and 20 courses to be offered, new guest lecturers have been announced, including anime director Kunihiko Ikuhara, illustrators Naoki Saito, Fujichoco, and Yoshitoshi Abe, and manga artist Yun Kouga. Through the experience of learning creative skills from popular professional creators at the forefront of the industry and receiving feedback on their own work, students will be able to acquire practical skills that will be useful in a variety of situations beyond the creative industry.
<Guest lecturers and courses they will be teaching> *Titles omitted
・Yoshito Fujiwara (Illustration and Entertainment A: Illustration Production Basics, Copy Production)
・Mashiro Eba (Illustration and Entertainment B: Illustration Production Basics Composition/Structure)
・Teruko Sakurai (Illustration and Entertainment C: Introduction to Color Expression)
・Ogipote (Illustration and Entertainment D: Key Visual)
・kannnu, Mion (Digital Image Creation Theory II: Character Design)
・Tatami (Illustration and Design A: Illustrated Anatomy)
・Shirako (Illustration and Design B: Lighting Lessons Based on Shadows)
・Tomoyuki Arima, Nobuo Ito, Yun Kouga, Komari Saiki, Naoki Saito, Masato Nakazono (Illustration and Design C: Basics of Industry-specific Portfolios)
・Hiroshi Misawa (Illustration and Design D: Drawing)
・Yoshitoshi Abe, Ronin (Illustration and its Use A: Special Lecture on Illustration Concepts)
・AC Department: Toru Adachi, Yosuke Adachi, Yoshiyuki Ooba, Fujichoco, Yoshiharu Misuzu (Illustration and its Use B: Industry Research)
・ Footsteps (Illustrations and their Use C: Background Illustrations)
・Kunihiko Ikuhara, Masanao Amano, Kanomae (Illustration and its Use D: Introduction to Animation)
In addition, ZEN University plans to collaborate with over 20 companies and organizations to develop and provide practical career education programs, such as internships, where students can learn at the cutting edge of society. A rich lineup of programs will be available, divided into short-term, medium-term, and long-term, both domestically and internationally, both in person and online. Taking advantage of the advantage of online universities that are not bound by time or location, students can participate in the program while taking other classes. This will create a learning cycle in which the knowledge learned in class can be immediately put to practical use, and the experience gained in practice can be used to further their studies.
In addition, we plan to collaborate with many companies that provide career support such as internships and recruitment activities, regardless of whether they are correspondence or day universities, and to support students so that they can participate in internship programs organized by companies in their third year. In this way, we aim to provide a variety of career paths that will enable each student to play an active role in society.
Please note that these details are currently subject to change as application for installation approval is currently pending.
