Faculty Development Symposium for the Re-Inventing Japan Project, "Consortium for International Human Resource Development for Disaster-Resilient Countries -- Based on the Experiences of Disaster Recovery", held (25 November 2014)

發表日期

2014/12/10

The 2014 Faculty Development (FD) Symposium for the "Consortium for International Human Resource Development for Disaster-Resilient Countries -- Based on the Experiences of Disaster Recovery (DRC)" -- a Kyoto University initiative supported by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) under the Re-Inventing Japan Project -- took place at Hotel Centnovum Kyoto on 25 November 2014. The event aimed to enable participating faculty and students to reflect on collaborative programs put forward this fiscal year by Kyoto University and the ASEAN Alliance Universities as part of the DRC program and to discuss ideas for enhancement in the years ahead.

The FD Symposium brought together Kyoto University's faculty members and students from the Graduate Schools of Engineering, Global Environmental Studies, and Management, and the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, as well as faculty members of the following ASEAN Alliance Universities: Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), Kasetsart University (Thailand), Institut Teknologi Bandung (Indonesia), University of Malaya (Malaysia), and Vietnam National University, Hanoi (Vietnam). In addition, a faculty member from Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University and a representative from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were invited to the event, bringing the total number of participants to 30.

In Part I of the Symposium, Professor Hiroyasu Ohtsu of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Engineering, who serves as director of the DRC program, and Professor Junichi Mori, the University's Vice-President for International Relations, each gave a welcome address on behalf of the event organizers and host university. In Part II, faculty members who had helped to coordinate the 2014 collaborative program spoke about various lectures they had given throughout the year. Two Kyoto University students gave presentations about their experiences of the courses they had taken. Another report summarized findings from a survey of the 2014 DRC program participants. Two junior Kyoto University faculty members described their experiences teaching in the program from the perspective of faculty development.

Part III opened with Professor Ohtsu outlining plans for the 2015 DRC program. A panel discussion involved lively exchanges on the future of the DRC program, with eight faculty members from Kyoto University, the ASEAN Alliance Universities, and National Cheng Kung University representing each organization's unique perspectives. The highly productive event concluded with closing remarks by Associate Professor Noppadol Phien-wej from the Asian Institute of Technology.

This year's FD Symposium provided opportunities to explore further ideas to ensure the continuation of student exchanges among participating universities and to improve the overall quality of DRC collaborative courses.