On 3 February, Kyoto University hosted the 2023 winter Qualifying Examination (QE) / Pre-QE meeting of its Asian Future Leaders Scholarship Program (AFLSP).
The gathering — the ninth of its kind — opened with an address from Professor Katsuichi Uchida, president of Bai Xian Asia Institute (BXAI) Academic Committee, expressing his appreciation and expectations for Kyoto University's role in the program. He was followed by Program-Specific Professor and Director Takao Hirajima of the KyotoU Division of Graduate Studies, who explained the aim of the program — now in its eleventh year — and the objective of the meeting as an opportunity for AFLSP scholars to share their research and public-service efforts with officials and others from both within and outside the University. In addition, he noted with delight that this academic year had seen the return of numerous program activities to an in-person format, resulting in more opportunities for interaction among the scholars than had been available in the previous few years.
The main part of the meeting consisted of presentation sessions run by Associate Professor Liang Zhao of the Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (GSAIS, or 'Shishu-Kan') and Junior Associate Professor Kai-Chun Chang of the Graduate School of Engineering. Nine scholars, who were finishing their first or second year of the program in March, presented their research and shared their public-service and other accomplishments over the past year. Three groups of scholars presented their Team-Project Based Research (T-PBR), involving small group work. T-PBR became a part of AFLSP in April 2022.
Afterwards, each presenter received feedback from the reviewers, who awarded one T-PBR group for outstanding achievement and presentation. The reviewers also offered commentary, emphasizing how they had enjoyed watching the presentations and learning about the scholars’ findings. In addition, they expressed hope that the students will continue to explore Japan’s cultural diversity, further expanding their knowledge and fostering personal connections along the way. Following these, one AFLSP graduate delivered a message, offering advice to the current scholars and sharing thoughts on the essence of leadership, the central focus of the Asian Future Leaders Scholarship Program.
Kyoto University expects AFLSP to continuously enrich the cultural diversity awareness and nurture the global leadership skills of Asian students for years to come.
AFLSP was established in 2014 by BXAI with the aim of providing young people in Asia with opportunities to study in other parts of the region, enabling them to deepen their understanding of different cultures while gaining the leadership skills needed to contribute to regional and global development.
The program currently accepts approximately 100 students each year to study at six partner universities in Japan and China. As one of the partner universities, Kyoto University annually hosts approximately ten scholars.
