Founder organizations

It is with great sadness that IFCES announces the passing of our Founder Chair Prof. Hisao Nojima Ph.D, who died on December 21, 2011 after a lengthy struggle with cancer. He was 55 years old.

Prof. Nojima attended the first meeting of ISO/TC 232/WG 1 in Berlin in November 2007 as leader of the Japanese delegation. From then on, he became a driving force behind the development and implementation of ISO 29990 both at international level and in the Japanese context. He was strongly committed to the improvement of quality in learning services and human development. He served as the first Vice-Chairperson of the Japanese mirror committee for ISO/TC 232 set up under the auspices of the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee, JISC, and also served as the first President of the Japan Association for Management of Training and Education, JAMOTE.

Prof. Nojima was also devoted to building concrete and honest relationships with overseas professionals in the field of learning services and human resources development. The establishment of IFCES is a legacy of this great commitment.

Alongside his involvement with ISO/TC 232, JAMOTE and IFCES, Prof. Nojima was a psychologist and researcher at Seijo University, Tokyo. In this role he was an educator and mentor who greatly enjoyed working with his students. His most recent research interest was omoide, which means people’s recollections of their early lives in Japanese.

Outside work, he was a loving husband and father who enjoyed spending time with his family. We at IFCES extend our most sincere condolences to his wife, daughter, relatives and friends. He will be much missed by them and by all his colleagues in Japan and around the world.