Hello friends. I found about this forum yesterday and would like to post my SOP for Tsukuba University's SPJES program which offers students from CA a masters degree on a chosen major and trains students for SDGs. I should express why I'm applying for this program and How it will benefit my career goals briefly in 800-1000 words.
This is still on draft level, even though I'm almost finished. I don't think I'll add anything new, maybe change some wordings here and there or maybe delete something. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts as it's my first time writing a SOP and I'm still pretty inexperienced. Thank you in advance for reading.
Being taught to sustainably use everything we own and not waste anything as much as we can, since my childhood, I was deeply shocked to learn about the scale of worldwide waste and ecological problems it causes, during my University years. Majoring in International Relations, the topic of environmental problems was always presented during our classes and with each discussion, I started to become more aware about issues facing humanity and the planet's future. For my research papers for disciplines like Geopolitics, Geography, Political science and Economy, I chose topics containing issues of climate change, in special deforestation of Amazon rainforest, actions taken to confront, control and prevent the outcome of those changes, particularly the work of World Meteorological Organization, industrial sectors contributing the most to the worldwide greenhouse gas production and possible solutions to reduce CO2 emission by sustainably managing food and building smart cities, which could cut the total Carbon emissions by 8% and up to 70% accordingly. For my courses of Sociology and Gender problems in Japan, I did small researches about the threats of overpopulation in underdeveloped and developing countries, as well as threats of natural growth rate decrease in developed countries, especially in Japan mainly caused by a high level of average costs of living and women choosing to pursue their career as it's often impossible to manage both work and family in modern-day Japan. I also researched about the effects of radiation in a long term period, types of radiation, history of nuclear technology use in power generation and alternative energy solutions, for my Civil Defense class.
All the knowledge obtained in those classes gave me some percentage of awareness of the current environmental situation, but I still greatly lack systematic knowledge on this matter. That's why I want to apply to your program as it's designated to grow specialists who can help to solve sustainable development issues and environmental problems. I would like to obtain my master's degree in your University because aside from offering great chances for cultural exchange between a vast variety of international students, it also has a strong research base with the massive library resources and experienced professors team about whom I know from first-hand as I have 4 acquaintances who studied at Tsukuba University. I'm particularly interested in seminars and workshops organized by JICA and UN that SPJES program provides, which can help to deepen my understanding of international collaborations in assisting economic and social growth in developing countries.
As I want to continue my major of Japanese studies in Graduate school too, I want to obtain Masters and Ph.D degrees in this speciality and apply my knowledge and skills mainly into the education sphere and sustainable development in this sector. That's why I chose my research topic for this program as " The Importance of E-books in High Education Facilities". There are 2 reasons for my choice:
1. Ebooks can significantly reduce paper consumption level which can positively affect the issues of carbon footprint during paper production, paper waste and deforestation
2. Adequately used, ebooks can help students improve their academic performances and overall education level
Azerbaijan being on an actively developing level, have many innovations, advancement and long-term projects funded every year, however the education field is one of the neglected areas. In particular, the studying system which didn't change much since the USSR and combined with technology neglections in the majority of top Universities, resulted in poor education level for modern days.
Ebooks assisted me through every year of my University life. They greatly save time in terms of searching for books in real-life shops, looking for a specific section in a book, research papers and etc. or just doing something as trivial as taking only a page or a section you will need. However, I could gain access to a much larger segment of ebooks and electron articles thanks to my languages knowledge in english and russian. Because there are great lack of ebooks in azeri and turkish which are more common languages for average Azerbaijani person, students have to search for books or available material and print the paper copies for themselves. Just the students I knew from my faculty alone, made around 500 to 1500 pages of paper copies, during Undergraduate years. 90% of these papers were used only during one or two semesters, after which they became a waste material.
Having to buy or copy books and other learning materials in a high scale, not only affects the environment negatively, but students' budget too.
That's why I believe that having systemized ebooks translation and creation centres providing University libraries with required books, could be a great help not only in terms of environment, but would remarkably improve average education level too.
As a 21st century person, I feel responsible to care for our planet and its future. I do release the scope of human activities' negative impact on the environment, as well as on the human community too and the urgent need for a well-planned project to achieve global development in a way that would be both sustainable and eco-friendly. UN's "2030 Agenda" gives mankind a good chance to unite and work together to change for a bright future and I'm more than willing to become part of it, giving my best to acquire every given knowledge and skill to become a professional who could work for collective goals. And I believe that efficient education is the start for a promising future.
This is still on draft level, even though I'm almost finished. I don't think I'll add anything new, maybe change some wordings here and there or maybe delete something. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts as it's my first time writing a SOP and I'm still pretty inexperienced. Thank you in advance for reading.
Statement of Purpose
Being taught to sustainably use everything we own and not waste anything as much as we can, since my childhood, I was deeply shocked to learn about the scale of worldwide waste and ecological problems it causes, during my University years. Majoring in International Relations, the topic of environmental problems was always presented during our classes and with each discussion, I started to become more aware about issues facing humanity and the planet's future. For my research papers for disciplines like Geopolitics, Geography, Political science and Economy, I chose topics containing issues of climate change, in special deforestation of Amazon rainforest, actions taken to confront, control and prevent the outcome of those changes, particularly the work of World Meteorological Organization, industrial sectors contributing the most to the worldwide greenhouse gas production and possible solutions to reduce CO2 emission by sustainably managing food and building smart cities, which could cut the total Carbon emissions by 8% and up to 70% accordingly. For my courses of Sociology and Gender problems in Japan, I did small researches about the threats of overpopulation in underdeveloped and developing countries, as well as threats of natural growth rate decrease in developed countries, especially in Japan mainly caused by a high level of average costs of living and women choosing to pursue their career as it's often impossible to manage both work and family in modern-day Japan. I also researched about the effects of radiation in a long term period, types of radiation, history of nuclear technology use in power generation and alternative energy solutions, for my Civil Defense class.
All the knowledge obtained in those classes gave me some percentage of awareness of the current environmental situation, but I still greatly lack systematic knowledge on this matter. That's why I want to apply to your program as it's designated to grow specialists who can help to solve sustainable development issues and environmental problems. I would like to obtain my master's degree in your University because aside from offering great chances for cultural exchange between a vast variety of international students, it also has a strong research base with the massive library resources and experienced professors team about whom I know from first-hand as I have 4 acquaintances who studied at Tsukuba University. I'm particularly interested in seminars and workshops organized by JICA and UN that SPJES program provides, which can help to deepen my understanding of international collaborations in assisting economic and social growth in developing countries.
As I want to continue my major of Japanese studies in Graduate school too, I want to obtain Masters and Ph.D degrees in this speciality and apply my knowledge and skills mainly into the education sphere and sustainable development in this sector. That's why I chose my research topic for this program as " The Importance of E-books in High Education Facilities". There are 2 reasons for my choice:
1. Ebooks can significantly reduce paper consumption level which can positively affect the issues of carbon footprint during paper production, paper waste and deforestation
2. Adequately used, ebooks can help students improve their academic performances and overall education level
Azerbaijan being on an actively developing level, have many innovations, advancement and long-term projects funded every year, however the education field is one of the neglected areas. In particular, the studying system which didn't change much since the USSR and combined with technology neglections in the majority of top Universities, resulted in poor education level for modern days.
Ebooks assisted me through every year of my University life. They greatly save time in terms of searching for books in real-life shops, looking for a specific section in a book, research papers and etc. or just doing something as trivial as taking only a page or a section you will need. However, I could gain access to a much larger segment of ebooks and electron articles thanks to my languages knowledge in english and russian. Because there are great lack of ebooks in azeri and turkish which are more common languages for average Azerbaijani person, students have to search for books or available material and print the paper copies for themselves. Just the students I knew from my faculty alone, made around 500 to 1500 pages of paper copies, during Undergraduate years. 90% of these papers were used only during one or two semesters, after which they became a waste material.
Having to buy or copy books and other learning materials in a high scale, not only affects the environment negatively, but students' budget too.
That's why I believe that having systemized ebooks translation and creation centres providing University libraries with required books, could be a great help not only in terms of environment, but would remarkably improve average education level too.
As a 21st century person, I feel responsible to care for our planet and its future. I do release the scope of human activities' negative impact on the environment, as well as on the human community too and the urgent need for a well-planned project to achieve global development in a way that would be both sustainable and eco-friendly. UN's "2030 Agenda" gives mankind a good chance to unite and work together to change for a bright future and I'm more than willing to become part of it, giving my best to acquire every given knowledge and skill to become a professional who could work for collective goals. And I believe that efficient education is the start for a promising future.
