Expanding Japanese Junior Chamber-SPbU collaboration
The delegation of the Japanese Junior Chamber has visited SPbU to sign an agreement on the student exchange in the current academic year.
They focus on the joint cultural projects and on how the Japanese colleagues can contribute to our educational programmes. The vent was also visited by Vice-Consul of the Consulate General of Japan Kotomi Itikava.
A year ago, the delegation of the Chamber visited SPbU. The head of the Japanese delegation, Chairperson of the Japanese Junior Chamber Masaoki Fukui told that their aim was to sign an agreement to prolong a bilateral memorandum on collaboration and public diplomacy adopted last year.
“One of the projects that we are implementing today is on the student exchange”, — said Mr Fukui. This year, 18 Russian students have attended short-term courses in Japan, among which three students were from SPbU. During their trip, they visited three cities in Japan: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and prefecture Hokkaido.
They also focused on culture, history, and geography of Japan. There were bilateral meetings on the Russia-Japan relationships where they could share their opinions. “On Thursday, September 16, we will pay a visit to your University, and your students can meet students from Japan. We are sure that SPbU will give them a warm welcome”, — said the Chairperson of the Japanese Junior Chamber.
We are primarily concerned with expanding the scope of exchange programmes and attracting more students and universities. Our primary aim is to foster relationships between our countries by educating young specialists to benefit both countries.
Director of the student programmes of the Japanese Junior Chamber Kadzyia Sudzuki
Our collaboration is constantly gaining momentum, especially with our Japanese colleagues in business, education, and public sector, says Deputy Rector for International Affairs Sergei Andrushin.
“Cooperation with our Japanese colleagues is a high priority with SPbU’s Rector Nikolay Kropachev. His contribution was highly appreciated by your country: in October last year, Nikolay Kropachev was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by Prime-Minister of Japan”, — said Sergei Andrushin.
The way how exchange programmes are now organized benefits both parties. Still, the agreement can stipulate new formats: additional educational programmes where Japanese students can be enrolled and joint seminars, conferences, and round tables. SPbU offers a number of short-term additional courses where international students can study history, language, politics, economics, culture of Russia (for example, each years, USA sends up to 150 its students).
Also, SPbU is developing main educational programmes with a focus on Japan. Not only students in Oriental studies can study Japanese, but also those who study Economics and International Management.
Another new format of collaboration is expert evaluation reports prepared by the Chamber and Japan-Russia Friendship Society.
Your participation in our educational councils of those programmes that have a specific focus on Japan would be highly valuable for the University and, hopefully, vice versa.
SPbU’s Deputy Rector for International Affairs Sergei Andrushin
“It could help us excel in education and employability of our graduates globally, — added Sergei Andrushin. — You can participate in the meeting of our educational councils remotely by means of videoconferencing”.
At the end of the meeting, the guests asked our University to support them to hold a festival of Japanese culture at the University. “This event has no equals in Russian universities, and we are eager to initiate such events at SPbU, — said Mr Fukui. — We are proud to have many groups who will be glad to participate and many ideas to implement together”. Serge Andrushin told that the University would be interested in such events and added that Japanese culture always attracted our students who study Japan and beyond.
Sergei Andrushin invited the Japanese guests to participate in the section “Education” at the International Cultural Forum, which is headed by Nikolay Kropachev. 2018 is the year of Russia and Japan, and ICF will feature some of the bilateral events.
They agreed to amend the agreement by adding those aspects they had discussed and sign it. They also agreed to further discuss cultural issues and stipulate them in a special agreement.