Spotlight on Kantara Accredited GakuNin Federation

In this edition of Spotlight, we are pleased to tell readers more about GakuNin as we welcome them to our Trust Framework community as an Accredited Assessor for the GakuNin federation.
1) Why was GakuNin created, and how is it providing real-world value today?
GakuNin federation was created to promote the corporation among higher educational efforts in Japan by building secure access federation. Today, more than 180 members have joined GakuNin, and the modern form of academic cooperation is accelerated, including e-journals, e-learning, and software delivery.
2) Where is GakuNin envisioned to be strategically in the next 5-10 years?
In Japan, there are about 1,000 higher educational organizations. Growth rates show that the major organizations of academia will join GakuNin in the next 5-10 years. With this growth, more significant services will be invited to deploy in GakuNin.
3) Why did GakuNin join Kantara Initiative?
At GakuNin, the secure operation of identity services is our real value. We are leading the trust framework construction among various sectors in Japan including business, government, and academia. Another value is the global interoperability that trust frameworks enable. We would like to share the global baseline that is achieved by leveraging a trust framework. Therefore, joining Kantara Initiative and participating in its trust scheme are our major concern.
4) What else should we know about your organization, the service/product, or even your own experiences?
GakuNin is now a globally recognized major player in academic federations. Our collaboration with European and U.S. academic federations will produce globally applicable contributions in near future. Additionally, we have a research group within our federation. Contributions from the view of research would also be highly expected in near future.