2018 Kyoto Summer Program for ASEAN Students with KU Students (30 July – 10 August 2018)

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Published on

2018/10/24

From 30 July to 10 August, the Kyoto University Asian Studies Unit (KUASU) held the "2018 Kyoto Summer Program for ASEAN Students with KU Students". The program was organized in partnership with the Faculty/Graduate School of Letters and the Institute for Liberal and Arts and Sciences (ILAS), with support provided by the University under the Wild & Wise Collaborative Learning Program.

Of the 37 participants, 19 were short-term international students from five leading institutions across ASEAN: Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; the University of Indonesia; the National University of Singapore; the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), and the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), the last two of which are affiliated with Vietnam National University in Hanoi. They were supported by, and engaged in collaborative learning with, 18 KyotoU students from eight Faculties and two Graduate Schools.

Participants from ASEAN and Japan together attended lectures and took part in cultural excursions, organized around the themes of "Japanese language and culture" and "interdisciplinary and international collaborative learning". They also delivered and discussed presentations on related topics.

The program also offered off-campus activities to deepen understanding of Japanese and Kyoto culture, including: a courtesy visit to the Mayor of Kyoto; a lecture by a city official on election systems; a one-day excursion to the prefecture of Shiga, where lectures were presented by the faculty of the University of Shiga Prefecture on the natural environment and the culture around Lake Biwa; and a visit to Nabel Co, Ltd, a manufacturer of egg packing machines, where they had a special lecture on Japan's small and medium-sized companies.

The 2018 Kyoto Summer Program received highly positive feedback from both the participants and the faculty of the ASEAN universities involved. The organizers noted that this success reflected a solid bidirectional exchange partnership between Kyoto University and ASEAN institutions that has developed over the years partly through the numerous short-term ASEAN-bound programs implemented by KUASU and other departments.