The “Global Leadership Seminar Exchange Program: Keio-University of California, Santa Barbara Program” is a field program where students from the Faculty of Science and Technology stay at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus and collaborate with UCSB students on group projects in small teams. The group projects are structured around three core pillars: “Global Leadership,” “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI),” and “STEAM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, combined with Arts, culture, ethics, etc.). Launched in Academic Year 2023, the program became officially recognized as a liberal art course (“Global Leadership Seminar Exchange Program”) in Academic Year 2024, enabling participating students to earn academic credits during the Fall semester. Following the successful run from September 21 to 24 in 2025, this year’s program is scheduled to take place from September 20 to 23, 2026. 

Many past participants have noted that the program served as a turning point for them to envision their future. Alumni have gone on to take on new challenges in various fields and career paths, including overseas internships and pursuing degrees at graduate schools abroad. Furthermore, interactions between Keio and UCSB participants continue to thrive through UCSB students traveling to Japan and coming to Keio as exchange students. 

Today, we face a growing number of global challenges, characterized by accelerating technological advancements alongside increasing social fragmentation. It is precisely in times like these that we wish to bring everyone together in this year’s “Global Leadership Seminar Field Training: Keio-University of California, Santa Barbara Program” to discuss the deeper significance of our three core pillars: “Global Leadership,” DEI, and STEAM.