IPB-GSA double degree program planning well underway (17 August 2015)

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An Indonesian delegation consisting of five faculty members of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) 1 -- Professor Ernan Rustiadi and Dr Nurhayati HS Arifin (Vice Dean for International Collaboration) of the Faculty of Agriculture, Dr Darda Efendi, Director of the Center for Tropical Horticulture Studies, and Drs Usman Ahmad and Slamet Widodo of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology -- and Dr Diding Suhandy of Lampung University visited Kyoto University's Graduate School of Agriculture (GSA) on 17 August for a series of meetings with the school's faculty and staff.

In the morning, the six delegates met with GSA Vice-Deans Eiji Nawata and Hiroshi Amano, Professor Naoshi Kondo, international committee chair, and Professor Shinya Funakawa (also Vice-Dean of the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies: GSGES) as well as Ms Naoko Hiramatsu and Mr Yutaka Iijima from human resources and international affairs, respectively, to discuss specifics of a double master's degree program to be instituted between IPB and GSA.

The program, part of a four-year (April 2015–March 2019) project spearheaded by GSGES 2 , aims to produce environmental and social innovators who can exercise multicultural leadership. These Indonesian and Japanese graduates of the program are also anticipated to attain high proficiency in each other's language on top of English.

To that end, a GSA satellite office will be established at IPB so faculty cross-appointment can best function. A consortium including global Japanese companies will also be formed to support professional education and job placement.

The delegates then paid a courtesy call to GSA Dean Hisashi Miyagawa. They exchanged views on a range of topics, such as: the Indonesian government's education budget being large and on the rise; Australia being one of the most popular destinations to study abroad among Indonesian students and possible reasons behind it; advantages of and differences between two major Indonesian scholarship agencies (LPDP and DIKTI); and long-term goals and consequences of encouraging students to study abroad.

Following the conversation, Mr Iijima presented a proposal to create a Facebook group page aimed at enhancing internal and bilateral communications in the IPB-GSA student-alumni-faculty network, which was supported by all those present at the meeting.

Joined by Deputy Accounting Director Takao Nakakubo in the afternoon, three of the six delegates resumed the morning discussion and hammered out the remaining details of the joint program.

During their stay at Kyoto University from 17 to 21 August, the delegates also spoke with GSA Professor Satoshi Hoshino (rural planning), Associate Professor Ryutaro Tao, Senior Lecturer Hisayo Yamane (pomology), Professor Shozo Shibata, and Associate Professor Katsue Fukamachi (landscape architecture), while given a few field tours.

The morning meeting

The courtesy call to GSA Dean Miyagawa (fourth from foreground left)

Vice-Dean Nawata (left) briefing the delegates on English-taught programs available at GSA

Vice Dean Nurhayati HS Arifin (third from left) explaining the education budget situation in Indonesia

References

  1. Bogor Agricultural University (IPB)
    http://ipb.ac.id/
  2. Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies (GSGES): "概算要求特別経費：「海外サテライト形成によるASEAN横断型環境・社会イノベーター創出事業」が採択されました（H27-30、機能強化関連プロジェクト分）。" (in Japanese)
    http://www2.ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp/news/8293/

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