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Thai university student group visits Toyohashi Tech under the Kizuna Project: Youth-Exchange Project of Asia-Oceania and North America

On 3^rd December 2012, 13 Thai university students and 5 accompany staff visited Toyohashi Tech as part of a program of exchanges with Japanese universities under the Kizuna Project: The Youth-Exchange Project of Asia-Oceania and North America.

This project includes exchanges with more than 10,000 youths (high school students, university students, and so on) from 41 countries and regions in Asia-Oceania and North America. The project was organized by the Japanese government with the aim of enhancing the understanding with other countries by sharing disaster and reconstruction experiences via high school, university, and regional exchanges, and volunteer activities, as well as contributing to the reconstruction of the disaster-stricken areas.

First, the students were given a welcome speech and an explanation of the general outline of Toyohashi Tech by Professor Naohiro Hozumi, Director of the International Cooperation Center for Engineering Education Development. Then, they received a lecture regarding the importance of building damage and seismic strengthening in a large earthquake by Dr. Seishi Yamada, Director of the Research Center for Collaborative Area Risk. In addition, the Thai university student group gave a presentation about their observation of Kesennuma. Following this, the Japanese students also joined the discussions, and divided into groups, to discuss “disaster prevention, energy, and food safety,” and gave presentations afterwards. The discussions unfolded into lively debates regarding Japan’s disaster prevention system and energy issues.

After lunch, the students toured the structural testing installations at the Seismic Engineering Laboratory (Associate Professor Tomoya Matsui’s Laboratory at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering) for a description of materials used for preventing or lessening building damage during an earthquake. They were also given a description of earthquake-resistant construction used at Toyohashi Tech buildings.

The visitors from Thailand also learnt about calligraphy with the International Exchange Club as part of the exchange with Japanese students. They experienced some aspects of Japanese culture as they watched Japanese students write ‘kanji characters’ and afterwards tried to write some characters themselves.

This visit was a great opportunity for both Thai and Toyohashi Tech students to deepen mutual understanding.

Opening Ceremony for TUT-EEPIS Joint Project of DEGREE, Development of EEPIS Graduate Engineering Education

On November 15^th, the Toyohashi University of Technology (Toyohashi Tech) held the “Ceremony for TUT-EEPIS Joint Project of DEGREE, Development of EEPIS Graduate Engineering Education” with the Electronic Engineering Polytechnic Institute of Surabaya (EEPIS) in Nagoya City.

The EEPIS is a polytechnic institute established in Surabaya in 1988. In its establishment, the polytechnic received grants and technological cooperation from mostly from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). In November 2010 when President Yoshiyuki Sakaki visited Indonesia, he was requested by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nuh, the Minister of Education and Culture of The Republic of Indonesia, for support in elevating EEPIS’s higher education. Following this request, the Toyohashi Tech established the EEPIS Education Advancement Support Cooperation Technical Committee under the Head Office for International Strategy and has been preparing for the cooperative support. By July 2011, a memorandum that verified the support that would be implemented was signed, and cooperative activities commenced that included preliminary instructions, for example, for EEPIS teachers to enroll in the doctoral course at Toyohashi Tech.

The ceremony was attended by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nuh, Minister of Education and Culture, who was in Japan to attend the Japan-Indonesia Rectors’ Conference that was also being held at Nagoya University on the same day, as well as Prof. Dr. Djoko Santoso (MSc. Director General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture of The Republic of Indonesia), Dr. Dadet Pramadihanto(Director, EEPIS), Dr. Rusminto Tjatur Widodo(Vice-principal, EEPIS), Dr. Akhmaloka (President, Bandung Institute of Technology), and others, as well as Dr. Yoshiyuki Sakaki(President, TUT), Dr. Kiyokatsu Jinno (Executive Trustee, Vice President), and Mr. Toshiaki Tsuji (Director-General) from Toyohashi University of Technology, and from the Institute of National Colleges of Technology (INCT), Dr. Hidefumi Kobatake (President,INCT), Dr. Masato Kitani (Executive Director,INCT), and Dr. Jun Kyokane (Director, INCT & President, Akashi NCT)

After an explanation of the background leading to this day and the details of the support by President Sakaki, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nuh expressed his gratitude for the support given by Toyohashi Tech, and it was acknowledged that both schools would press forward with collaboration and cooperation in the future. Furthermore, each of the 4 students who enrolled in the university’s doctoral course from this October spoke in front of Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nuh, the President of EEPIS, and teaching advisors, of their ambition and determination to devote themselves totally to their research at Toyohashi Tech for the next 3 years.

ICCEED’s 11th Open Forum on University-Industry-Government Linkage and Engineering Education in Developing Countries

On November 22, International Cooperation Center for Engineering Education Development (ICCEED), Toyohashi Tech held the 11th Open Forum as its annual event entitled "University-Industry-Government Linkage and Engineering Education in Developing Countries" at the International Conference Hall in JICA Ichigaya Building. The forum was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Over 60 people from universities, organizations for international cooperation, and private companies participated in the forum.

The topic of the forum was motivated by active links among university, industry, and government (U-I-G links for short) in Japan, especially in engineering. U-I-G links have provided benefits for each of the universities, industries and governments. What are the challenges related to the introduction of systems for U-I-G links into developing countries? What do developing countries expect for U-I-G linkages?

In light of these subjects, general and practical issues on U-I-G links were presented in the forum by distinguished speakers. After opening remarks by Mr. Yoshihisa Nagayama (Director, International Affairs Division, MEXT), Ms. Nobuko Kayashima (Director General, Human Development Department, JICA) gave a keynote speech on an overview of U-I-G links in developing countries. Prof. Naohiro Hozumi (Toyohashi Tech) reviewed international cooperation activities organized by ICCEED. Prof. Tsuyoshi Usagawa (Kumamoto University) explained JICA technical cooperation projects led by him to boost research activities of graduate schools in Vietnam and Indonesia. Prof. Phan Dinh Tuan (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam) emphasized the importance of research-based education to enhance U-I-G links. Prof. Rahula Anura Attalage (University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka) delivered his talk on an organization and its major outputs for U-I-G links by the MEXT International Cooperation Initiative project. Matters raised in the talks were then extensively discussed among the audience and the speakers in the panel discussion session, and the discussion continued for a while after the forum.