This study introduces a case of a small national university in Japan that launched a new experimental education program, the Data Design Program (DDP), by integrating design thinking and data science into traditional business academia. Results from a survey conducted over the initial three years indicate that DDP students have been able to achieve significantly higher levels of resilience capability development and maintenance of self-efficacy compared to students in conventional business management programs.
intense, with typically 120% to 150% of the capacity applicants. Faculty expertise lies in data science, design thinking, cognitive science, engineering, marketing communication, and innovation management.
The DDP offers nine lectures and three workshops per academic year. Lectures include foundational courses in collaboration with nearby art universities for learning design basics and omnibus lectures where journalists from leading newspapers explain issues in their respective fields. Workshops are conducted in a Project-Based Learning (PBL) format, collaborating with companies and local government offices to address actual issues towards social innovation. Currently, 17 projects are operational, with students forming teams and engaging in their projects for over two years.
The post-war development of corporate management was initially centered around
"planning" studies. Drawing from modern accounting, financial management, and process
management from engineering operation research, the focus was on devising superior
management plans [
However, having excellent plans didn't guarantee success for all companies. Therefore,
the discussion shifted towards absorptive capacity [
The characteristic of DDP is to integrate data science and design thinking to foster the development of new business leaders. Design thinking is not only a method aimed at utilizing design as a management resource but also a technique to explore statistically potential "outlier" needs through the process of empathy with extreme users. Additionally, it is distinctive to utilize participatory observation and ethnography as means to achieve empathy. The "outlier" needs brought by extreme users, unlike statistically dominant latent needs brought by marketing activities, are considered to be needs that may manifest in the near future if society undergoes changes.
In DDP, by combining data science and design thinking, it is possible to cultivate a flexible capacity to absorb towards the near future in today's highly uncertain social environment. In other words, DDP aims to learn a new management approach beyond conventional optimal planning. In the core PBL workshops of DDP, under the guidance of supervisors, students themselves experience participatory observation. On the other hand, in programming lectures using Python or R, students learn basic statistical analysis techniques and the use of Artificial Intelligence systems, thus experiencing evidence-based social issue resolution. Additionally, students engage in prototyping using short animations and challenge themselves to propose solutions to real-world problems.
During the summer of 2023, a questionnaire survey regarding their daily learning activities and outcomes was conducted among fourth-year, third-year, and second-year students enrolled in the DDP (n=79).
As a comparative measure, the same questionnaire survey was administered to students enrolled in Hitotsubashi University but not in the DDP (n=57). All questions were conducted using the 5-point Likert scale. By comparing the results of these two surveys, the educational effectiveness of the DDP was assessed.
The results revealed that overall, students in the DDP demonstrated better learning outcomes compared to students not enrolled in the program. Particularly noteworthy was the finding, as illustrated in Table 1, that DDP students exhibited significantly higher effectiveness in their ability to adapt to changes in social environments. I can search for necessary information related to business (or work) from various sources.
I can discover issues inherent in traditional ways of doing business or operating within an organization.
I know how to secure the necessary resources and cooperation from others to realize ideas and achieve goals.
D D P s (n= 79) N on D D P s (n= 57)
t-test 4.03 4.11 4.1 3.47 3.46 3.61
Furthermore, in the case of Hitotsubashi University, it was discovered, as shown in Table 2, that DDP students were significantly better at curbing the pronounced decline in "entrepreneurial motivation" that tends to occur as students progress through their academic years.
These survey findings serve as evidence that the DDP has successfully provided highquality learning opportunities in line with its initial objectives.
4.06 3.29
This paper examines the case of DDP as a new educational program in traditional business academia, explaining its managerial background, educational objectives, lecture content, and structural features. DDP can be seen as an experimental attempt within the emergence school, and it was considered an important indicator whether students' resilience capability towards social changes could be developed. The results of a comparative survey conducted on DDP students over the initial three years confirmed that, as intended, students' resilience capability was significantly developed.
As a result, it was confirmed that DDP students tend to maintain a high level of selfefficacy during their enrollment and significantly exhibit a tendency to maintain a vision of starting their own business in the near future. Moving forward, it will be necessary to continue measuring changes over time and verify the contribution of DDP education to the overall revitalization of business academia.