Holding of the FY2014 joint symposium on Re-Inventing Japan Projects (ASEAN-focused and AIMS programs) (30 July 2014)

發表日期

2014/07/30

The FY2014 joint symposium on the Re-Inventing Japan Projects (ASEAN-focused and AIMS programs) took place at the Clock Tower Centennial Hall.

The event began with opening addresses by Executive Vice-President Akihiko Akamatsu and Mr Kuniaki Sato, Senior Specialist for International Planning at the Office for International Planning, Higher Education Bureau, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and proceeded to a lecture and presentations.

Even as more and more Japanese universities are implementing globalization initiatives with clear numerical targets, such as in terms of the number of international students enrolled, there remains a question of how to ensure and improve the quality of international collaboration in higher education. Ensuring the quality of educational collaboration is especially important -- for all of the countries involved -- if universities in Japan and fast-growing ASEAN nations are to deepen their partnerships through student exchange and training.

It was against this background that the symposium invited three experts to speak on the issue of quality assurance in education, with a focus on international credit-transfer and double-degree programs, under the title, "Issues Faced in the Development of International Joint Programs and the Outlook for the Future: Perspectives from Japan and ASEAN Countries on Quality Assurance".

The first expert to speak was the guest lecturer, Mr Junaidi, MA, Chair of the AUN-ACTS Secretariat and Head of the International Office, Universitas Indonesia, who discussed the implementation of quality assurance under the ASEAN Credit Transfer System (ACTS). This was followed by two case presentations on programs selected as Re-Inventing Japan Projects. The first one was given by Associate Professor Kazuhiko Koike from the Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, and reported on an ASEAN International Mobility for Students (AIMS) initiative selected in FY2013, while the second, by Program-Specific Senior Lecturer Hiromi Tobina from Kyoto University's Human Security Development Educational Unit, covered an ASEAN-focused program adopted in FY2012.

The second half of the symposium was a panel discussion chaired by Professor Masaji Hirata from the Graduate School of Letters. Panelists included two early-career researchers -- Assistant Professor Fuyuki Makino from the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, and Associate Professor Nakao Nomura from the Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba University -- as well as Mr Sato, Senior Specialist for International Planning, and the lecturer and presenters from the first part of the event. The animated discussion yielded many valuable insights regarding quality assurance and many other issues of importance.

In the afternoon, representatives of the universities operating a Re-Inventing Japan Project attended the first liaison meeting of FY2014. The gathering, which included several working sessions for the very first time since its inception, turned out to be an extremely fruitful one as it enabled representatives of the programs involving the same country to discuss the issues and problems they shared, and find solutions and hints for implementing university education that would be mutually beneficial to Japanese and ASEAN institutions.