Yokohama National University

TICAD IV Preparatory-Symposium in YokohamaOn 23 January 2008 the symposium of “ African Development and Japanese

Higher Education Institutions: Message from Yokohama “ hosted by the YNU International Graduate School of Social Sciences was held in Yokohama Kaiko Kinen Kaikan Port Opening Memorial Hall. It was held as a part of a preparatoy-symposium of Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) which will be held in Yokohama in the end of May.

Starting with the greeting speech from YNU Executive Director Nagashima, it was followed by the keynote speech by Mr. Yasushi Takase (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs) entitled “The State of Africa and Japanese Diplomacy towards TICAD IV”.

In the second half of the Symposium, lively panel discussion about the role of Japanese universities to sustainable development of Africa was held. The panelists were as follows: Prof.Tomoya Shibayama (Director of YNU International Student Center), Mr. Yoshihiro Natori (Institute of Advanced Studies of United Nations University) and two YNU alumni who acquired their doctoral degree in YNU, Dr. Ebimaro Sampson (Nigeria National Planning Commission) and Dr. Joel Nobert (University of Dar es Salaam).

More than 150 people including students and citizen gathered in the Hall in spite of the snow. The paticipants listened to the symposium and panel discussion with the great interest and deepened their understanding about Africa. Fur more information on TICAD, please visit our website at http://www.igss.ynu.ac.jp/extension-lecture/h200226TICAD4report.pdf International Graduate School of Social Sciences

World University Rankings by The TimesThe world’s top 500 ranked universities were announced in the fall of 2007 by `The Times Higher Education Supplement’ and `Quacquarelli

Symonds`, English journals specialized in higher education. This rankings are conducted every year since 2004 and YNU was ranked 354th for the first time. The rankings are analyzed and evaluated synthetically based on the following indicators: Peer Review by experts, Employer Review by recruitment staff and International Staff, International Students, Staff /Student Ratio and Citation, etc.

Being ranked as a top university in this ranking means the growing recognition and building the brand image of the university. As the competition between universities is beyond the borders of the country, it is necessary for YNU to strengthen its competitiveness in the international arena.

Because YNU can’t ignore the importance of the ranking for the above reasons, a working group was launched in the University last year. The mission of the group is to collect and analyze information, and participate in seminars organized by `Quacquarelli Symonds`.

In 2007 prestigious Japanese universities improved their position in the ranking compared to the previous year (Ex. The University of Tokyo 19->17, Kyoto University 29->25, Osaka University 70->46, Tokyo Institute of Technology 118->90) and revealed themselves as universities able to compete with the top world universities. For more information: please visit our website at http://www.topuniversities.com/ Science and International Affairs Division

International ExchangeAlumni Meeting of Short-Term Exchange Program of YNU

On 8 December 2007, 1st alumni meeting of Short-Term Student Exchange Program was held in Yokohama. Since 2003 the number of students who go abroad on exchange from YNU has grown rapidly. As a result, every year around 40 students participate in this program and the number of alumni exceeded 250.

The aim of the alumni meeting is to promote and offer information about the program to widen the social and international outlook of students by enabling them to communicate with alumni. with the participation of 40 students and YNU staff, the event was a great success.

Starting with the greeting speech by Prof. Hagiwara, Chair of International Exchange Committee, it was followed by fruitful exchange of information and views with alumni. The

topic was about not only studying overseas and international exchange but also employment and social issues. Moreover, the greeting and presentation ceremony of memorial gift as retirement was conducted for the initiator of the alumni meeting Prof.

Watanuki, Faculty of Economics. The meeting was summed up by YNU Executive Director Suzuki, who made a closing speech on the activation of alumni assistance and internationalization of YNU. Student Exchange Division

No.72008April

Special Feature “YNU and African Development: TICAD in Yokohama”

Certificates of Grants for Participation in International Academic Exchange AwardedFor YNU Project of Grants for Participation in International Academic

Exchange 52 applications in the first semester and 20 applications in the second semester were made and 11candidates for each term (22 in total) were nominated in the Project.

The Project, founded in 2006, has the aim to promote students’ research activities by offering them grants for participation in international conferences with their research presentations and collaborative research.

On 15 January 2008, Awarding Ceremony of the Grants was held where Executive Director Nagashima, International Exchange Committees and academic advisors of the grant recipients participated. During the ceremony, President Iida congratulated each student and handed the certificate. Then, Ms. Ryouko Hasegawa, International Graduate School of Social Sciences, expressed gratitude on behalf of all the recipients.

Afterwards, the friendly meeting hosted by Prof. Hagiwara, (Chair of International Exchange Committee) was conducted. During the meeting recipients talked about their research and their experiences abroad and expressed their appreciation to the organizers of the Project.

Science and International Affairs Division

“Medical Information and Communication Technologies” 2nd International Symposium in Oulu in Finland

The 2nd International Symposium on Medical Information and Communication Technologies was held at Oulu University in Finland through 11-13 October 2007.

The symposium is a sequel of the first symposium held at Yokohama in 2006 by the initiative of Medical Information and Communications Technology Center (MICT Center), Yokohama National University (YNU) with cooperation of Yokohama City University (YCU) and National Institute of ICT (NICT), Japan. In both symposiums, Prof. Ryuji Kohno (Director of the MICT Center of YNU) led the whole event as the general chairman.

The symposium aimed to promote advanced R&D in the fields covering medicine and ICT, as well as development of human resource and its international network. Over 200 participants from 14 countries attended in the symposium. From the host country, Finland 59 people participated. The next biggest delegation was from Japan with 36 participants including professors from YNU. The MICT Center introduced

its activities at the exhibition booth along with NICT and several other organizations and companies from various parts of the world.Following the symposium on 14 December, Oulu University president hosted lunch meeting with top management from YNU (including

Executive Director Watanabe and Prof. Kohno) and NICT (Dr. Matsushima, Vice President) to discuss collaboration among the universities and institutions, especially in R&D and human resource development in the MICT field. It was in the severe winter time in Finland, but the atmosphere in the Oulu University and town area was warm with coming Christmas festivities and international friendship, which led the symposium and related meetings to the great success.

The next symposium will be held in North America in possibly late 2008. For more information, please visit the Web Site at http://www.ismict2007.org/ Medical Information and Communications Technology Center

“Sialons and Non-Oxides” 2nd International Symposium in YokohamaFrom December 2 to 5 2007 2nd International

Symposium on Sialons and Non-Oxides, hosted by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science ( JSPS) was held in Ise-Shima Royal Hotel, Mie prefecture.

The Symposium, the single international conference specialized in Sialons, was conducted by YNU which was nominated by “ 2007 JSPS project of International Scientific Meetings in Japan”.

The Symposium gathered 130 authorities of the field, 50 from overseas, and it became an intensive exchange of information about Sialons and related non-oxides. Chief organizers of YNU were as follows. Professor for Specific Project, Komeya and Prof.Tatami of Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences.

As a result of the Symposium, the proceedings will be published by TTP company/journal, Suisse, and the academic journal of the Ceramic Society of Japan will publish it in the form of dissertation.

Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences

YNU Staff Visits University of Lisbon and University Jean Moulin Lyon 3On February 2008 Prof. Hiroki Taura (Cooperative Research and Development Center) and Mr.

Shoichiro Mori (Head of Science and International Affairs Division) paid a visit to the University of Lisbon, Portugal and the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, France to strengthen the inter-university relationships between YNU.

On 11 February the above YNU staff visited the University of Lisbon to have a meeting with Prof. Maria Amelia Martins-Loucao, Vice President and other executives in charge of international affairs.

The University of Lisbon, the origin of which dates back to 1288, is a member of Port-City University League (PUL) initiated by YNU in 2006 as a new exchange project with universities located in port cities around the world. The University of Lisbon is the next host of the PUL 3rd seminar in autumn 2008 and is going to become a YNU partner university. In this background YNU staff exchanged views and opinions with vivacity to activate the educational and research interchange in the near future. After the meeting YNU staff visited the Faculty of Law and observed the library including facilities for students guided by the dean.

On 13 February YNU staff visited the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3 to have a meeting with Prof. Marylene Meunier, Academic Director and other executives in International Relations Office. The University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, which was founded in 1973, has been a YNU partner university since 1998 and has exchanged students every year. In these circumstances both staff had an active discussion to promote the educational exchange further. After the meeting YNU staff observed the Japanese Language class taught fully in advanced Japanese by Prof. Reiko Shimamori for the students enrolled in a master’s course.

The visit was highly fruitful and it is expected to have much deeper exchange relations between YNU and the two universities hereafter. Science and International Affairs Division

YNU Staff Visit East China Normal University and Dalian University of Technology, Organize Alumni Meeting in ShanghaiThe mission group to China headed by YNU Executive Director Nagashima

visited East China Normal University (ECNU) and Dalian University of Technology (DUT) from 4 to 9 March 2008 as a task force organized to implement ‘International Cooperation Project for Initiating Practical Educational Program’.

The members of the mission are as follows: the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Business Administration, Graduate School of Engineering, Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, International Student Center and Information Technology Service Center; thus, it can be called as an All YNU mission.

The mission group met President Yu Lizhong at ECNU to confirm the joint effort to boost exchange activities between the two Universities. In a meeting with Prof. Zhang Yong Yue, Head of Department of Business Administration, a joint understanding was reached on the idea of specifically proceeding with exchange activities in accordance with the existing inter-faculty agreement between YNU and ECNU and between YNU and DUT respectively.

The meeting with Kong Xian Jing, Vice President of DUT, resulted in a joint understanding on the conclusion of an inter-university exchange agreement as soon as possible. Some of the mission members offered model lectures. How to step up mutual cooperation between YNU and ECNU

and between YNU and DUT on the issues of use of remote lecturing system and the Japanese language education was another topic of discussion during the meetings.

In the evening of 4 March, YNU successfully organized an alumni meeting in Shanghai, which attracted over 60 persons including YNU alumni and the students of current exchange programs.

The visit to China significantly contributed to development and consolidation of exchange relationship with the two Universities and systematic fostering of alumni activities in the cities of Shanghai and Dalian. Faculty of Economics

International Student ExchangeJapanese Speech Contest by International Students On 9 December 2007 Japanese speech contest for international students on “ My Motherland ”

was held as a part of “Regional Project of Exchange with International Students” in the Education and Culture Hall. The event was organized by RKK under the sponsorship, Kanagawa Region International Student Exchange Council, headed by President of YNU and Nakajima Foundation, PKK conducts variety of support projects for international students studying in Kanagawa prefecture. There were 64 participants, which consists of 15 international students, 28 guests and 21 organizers of the event.

Mr. Oota, Chairman of RKK, opened the event and it consisted of three parts: speech contest, panel discussion and cultural exchange. In speech contest, 7 students from Keio University, Yokohama City University, Tokai University, Kanagawa University and YNU were selected from 27 candidates. The speakers talked of features, customs, culture, language and cuisine of their country with great pride. At the end the cultural exchange was conducted in the form of tea party and songs of different countries created a friendly atmosphere. Student Exchange Division

4 Sophomores from Sookmyung Women’s University (Korea)Visits YNUOn 24 January 4 sophomores from Sookmyung Women’s University of Korea, a YNU Partner

University visited YNU as a part of university’s program called “S Leadership”.The visitors are as follows: Ms. Lee Min Ji, Ms. Kim Han Na , Ms.Park Bo Ram and Japanese-speaking

Ms. Ha Seungji in Department of Telecommunications, On this day, they attended the class of “Mass Communication B” by Prof. Sumi Tetsuya, instructor of the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences and conducted the survey on Korean TV programs among students.

After lunch together with Yun Teresa, JOY/J student from Sookmyung Women’s University ,they interacted with each other through Yun’s guided campus tour and Yokohama city.

Faculty of Education and Human Sciences

The 8th Graduation Ceremony of Pre-undergraduate Preliminary Education On 7 February 2008 Graduation Ceremony of Pre-undergraduate Preliminary

Education took place in International Students Center (ISC) of YNU and Prof. Shibayama (Director of the ISC), Executive Director Suzuki, Prof. Hagiwara (Chair of International Exchange Committee) and other YNU staff participated in the event.

This time 7 students from South Korea enrolled in October 2007 based on the Japan-Korea Joint Science and Engineering Student Exchange Program completed the Preliminary Education after receiving the Diploma from Prof. Shibayama. International students expressed their gratitude and talked about their future goals in Japanese.

Afterwards, Prof.Shibayama greeted the students and the participants offered their congratulations to international students. They will enroll in the Faculty of Engineering from April 2008. International Student Center

Ski Trip for International Student in GunmaFollowing the field trips in last year, the ski trip as the2007 3rd

excursion for international students was held in Gunma from 19 to 22 February.

Around 50 international students and YNU staff experienced ski and Japanese culture. As this year we had much heavy snow compared with last year and the weather was very fine, participants enjoyed skiing under the guide of the instructors.

In addition, for some international students it was also their first stay at Japanese styled hotel, ryokan with hot springs and they were given a chance to get to know more about other students as well as YNU staff. It was again another successful excursion and everyone was looking forward for the next event. Student Exchange Division

For additional information about YNU please contact:

Yokohama National University Student Affairs Department, Student Exchange Division79-1 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, Japan 240-8501 TEL: +81-45-339-3185E-mail: ryugakusei.kikaku@nuc.ynu.ac.jp URL: http://www.ynu.ac.jp/index_en.htmlTranslator: Umid Sharipov (Sophomore, Faculty of Business Administration)

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