Kyoto University hosted Summer School 2014, a university–high school collaborative event organized in accordance with partnership agreements concluded with the prefectural government and individual boards of education in the Kinki region. The participants were students of high schools under the jurisdictions of the boards of education of Osaka, Shiga, Hyogo, Wakayama, Mie, and Kyoto Prefectures and Kyoto City, and partner high schools in Nara Prefecture.
The event is a joint educational initiative by Kyoto University and select high schools, which is designed to stimulate participating students' curiosity and intellectual creativity by introducing them to the forefronts of research.
In addition, the event aims to enable students from different cities and prefectures to meet and interact with each other, thereby promoting intellectually stimulating encounters and cultivating personal development.
The event also features presentations by KU faculty members about their research projects and careers, encouraging students to think about their own future paths and explore their career options.
Highlights of Summer School 2014 included a special lecture by Preside nt Hiroshi Matsumoto. His address to an audience at the Clock Tower Centennial Hall, the primary venue, was also relayed live to a secondary venue in Research Building No 3, enabling wider interaction. This was followed by a message of encouragement from KU student Ryo Aoi, a fourth-year engineering major. Finally, each of the high school students participated in one of 10 sample classes that covered 10 subjects spanning the humanities, sciences, and engineering.
Many of the participating students, who represented a total of 57 schools and numbered 837, appeared to gain inspiration from the event. "It's been full of fresh and stimulating experiences, very different from going to high school; it has certainly broadened my horizons," said one. "I came away from the sample class with a renewed appreciation of what makes Kyoto University so great," commented another.
President Matsumoto's special lecture involved interacting with representatives of participating high schools on stage as well as students at the secondary venue, seen on the screen in the background
Mr Aoi, a fourth-year engineering major, giving a message of encouragement to the high school students in attendance
At a sample class
