Abstract:

The humanities have been walking on the quicksand of the globalizing world for several decades now. The science-focused world demands specialists in larger numbers. Alongside with declining population, student brain drain in pursuit of better job and income opportunities abroad, situation in Bulgaria is a far cry from being rosy.

In this article we focus in detail on changes that have been implemented in various curricula forming the educational scaffold of Japanese Studies at Sofia University for the past five years. The alterations have been both on the administrative side, but also have been called for by students` demand for new subjects and fresher approaches. To meet the demand, entirely new subjects had to be introduced in order to preserve and maintain the image of our department as offering state-of-art and hip disciplines.

As a main tool for surveying students` needs and expectations we use questionnaires. The last one that provided us with valuable information was distributed in January 2021. We targeted bachelor students (first to fourth grade) and master course students.

Results showed new and diverging interests which could be partly satisfied by altering existing courses as well as tailoring the teaching methodology so it could allow students to deepen their knowledge in brand new ways that would prove stimulating and effective. The pandemic situation that brings about new challenges too, urges us to swiftly re-fresh course content including video lessons, podcasts and other alternative forms of teaching.

In effort to freshen up both bachelor and master courses, we have began devising a joint discipline that will introduce a new topic: the leading animation studio in Japan – Ghibly from the multifaceted perspective – its products in their aesthetic and social value, as well as the invitational corporate policy of the company. On master course level, we are now in the middle of setting up a new course meant for students with educational background different from Japanese studies.

Keywords:

Humanities, crisis, curriculum, courses, change, students, needs, video lessons, podcasts.