Yokohama National University

Yokohama National University

Newsletter

YNUIntroduction of New President, Executive Vice Presidents, and Executive Directors

President of Yokohama National University: SUZUKI, Kunio

Executive Director (General Affairs and Research) & Executive Vice President: KOKUBUN, Yasuo

Executive Director (Educational Affairs) & Executive Vice President: MIZOGUCHI, Shuji

Executive Director (Financial Affairs and Facilities) & Secretary-General: SAITO, Kazunobu

Executive Director (International Affairs): ARINOBU, Mutsuhiro

Executive Vice President (Evaluation): YAMADA, Hitoshi

Promoting Productive International Strategies (Kunio Suzuki, President of Yokohama National University)Yokohama National University (YNU) is located in the cosmopolitan port city of Yokohama, a community that a large number of

students from around the world now call home. Among its many achievements, YNU has earned a stellar reputation for its active participation in and development of the Port-City University League and other international academic exchange platforms with overseas universities and research institutes. In addition, joint research with global companies both in Japan and overseas, participation in the Global COE (Centers of Excellence) Program, and other approaches to international scholastic excellence continue to generate handsome returns. Buoyed by the favorable tailwind of the 300,000 International Student Plan advanced by the Japanese government, in February 2008 the Yokohama National University International Strategy was drawn up as a plan to continue to globalize the university and further expand and improve the progress made to date.

We are extremely grateful that the promotion of the internationalization of YNU set forth in our first medium-term target plan has yielded solid progress. In April of this year, for example, the post of international strategy coordinator was established, with the International Strategy Promotion Office moving into full-fledged operation. At present, we are working to formulate our second medium-term target plan, which is scheduled to commence in fiscal 2010. This plan will include incorporating the formation of an international center of practical scholarship within the target framework. Against the backdrop of an ongoing reduction in public subsidies and operating expenses, the current situation means that the promotion of globalization and the formation of international centers take on critical significance from the perspective of strengthening the university’s abilities and presence.

In fiscal 2009, the International Education Shuttle Base Program was adopted on a budgetary request basis. In tandem with the aforementioned government plan to bring 300,000 international students to Japan, YNU will be working hard to bolster its English-language course selections, expand enrollment from October, build more extensive international student housing facilities, and internationalize its campus, in other words, enhance the international strategies that have become a distinguishing attribute of the school. Likewise, in gearing up for the fiscal 2010 request to proceed with Global 30, an interuniversity program aimed at launching and cultivating new bases of globalization, we are keenly aware that vigorous preparations and improvements are necessary to succeed on that critical front as well.

Taking this mission to heart, YNU is mobilizing the full range of its strengths and resources in pursuit of these and other essential goals, beginning with restructuring its organization to facilitate the smoother promotion of international strategies.

No.102009July

Topics

Liaison Offices Opened in Sao Paulo and Ho Chi Minh Over the years, YNU has actively enlisted the cooperation of its international graduates

in advancing plans to establish international exchange bases at schools with which academic agreements have been established and other partner campuses around the world. In keeping with this vision, an agreement was recently concluded with the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil to open our first overseas liaison office, the official signing ceremony of which was held on March 17 (Tuesday) at that school’s campus in Sao Paulo City.

Attending the ceremony from YNU were Akira Nagashima, executive director in charge of international affairs and director of the International Strategy Promotion Office, as well as Atsushi Kurihara, the Science and International Affairs Division of our General Affairs Department. Also present was University of Sao Paulo professor Toshiichi Tachibana, a graduate of the YNU Faculty of Engineering who played an instrumental role in paving the way for the establishment of this liaison office, and other members of the University of Sao Paulo faculty. Officially inking the agreement were Professor Ivan G.S. Falleiros, head of the Engineering Department of the University of Sao Paulo, and International Strategy Promotion Office director Nagashima representing the YNU side.

The pact contains pledges of cooperation in conducting public relations activities, liaising with international students who return to their home countries, promoting alumni association events and other student-based efforts, supplying pertinent information to people interested in studying abroad, collecting and supplying information related to local education and research programs, and other activities. Also, consensus was reached to advance more detailed talks on specific means to be used to promote effective liaison and partnerships from here on out. Both sides likewise agreed to install signboards identifying the new liaison office, and preparations for that work are underway.

Since first entering into an academic agreement with the University of Sao Paulo in 1983, YNU has hosted a large number of students from that school while promoting a vigorous program of international exchange. This latest accord, which is positioned to promote greater liaison and networking between graduates, will support the development of even more meaningful exchanges and communication between the

two schools for many years to come. On a related front, on March 18 (Wednesday) of this year Professor Hitoshi Yamada of

the YNU Graduate School of Environmental and Information Sciences called upon Professor Nguyen Ngoc An of Ho Chin Minh City University of Technology in Vietnam. Professor Yamada carried with him an agreement that was signed by then YNU president Yoshihiro Iida and designed to entrust the post of liaison officer to Professor An. With Professor An signing the agreement, the way for the opening of a liaison office in Ho Chi Minh, the second such YNU base worldwide, was cleared.

Encouraged by this recent progress, the International Strategy Promotion Office is continuing its preparations to open similar liaison offices in other regions.

Fourth Port-City University League International Seminar Convened in May On May 21 (Thursday) and 22 (Friday),

the fourth international seminar of the Port-City University League (PUL) was convened at Yokohama City Port Opening Commemorative Hall, presenting an event that addressed the theme “The Port as a Gateway to a Multi-Cultural and Multi-Civilizational World.”

PUL was launched in 2006 based on a proposal from YNU. It targets a broad range of academic, cultural, and industrial exchanges between premiere universities located in port cities around the world and invites local citizens to join in. The inaugural seminar sponsored by PUL was held in Yokohama that same year followed by a second seminar in Chennai, India, in 2007 and a third in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2008. With this year marking the 150th anniversary of the opening of Yokohama

International Conferences

as an international port, the fourth seminar in the series was once again convened in Yokohama.

On day one of this year’s seminar, the session on Issues of Ports and the Ocean included presentations by Professor Toshiyuki Tanaka of the YNU International Graduate School of Social Sciences (addressing the theme “International Cooperation for Preventing Piracy”) and Professor Hiroyuki Matsuda of the YNU Graduate School of Environmental and Information Sciences (Fisheries Management and Conservation in Japan). Also convened that day was the Port City and Young People session, featuring overviews of pertinent education and research efforts being advanced at different universities followed by a lively question-and-answer period.

Day two featured a session complete with simultaneous interpretation between Japanese and English. The agenda began with greetings from newly appointed YNU president Kunio Suzuki and Yokohama City University president Tsutomu Fuse along with an official welcome message delivered by Mayor Hiroshi Nakata of Yokohama City.

This set the stage for a special keynote lecture by Masahiro Hirano, senior researcher of the Yokohama Archives of History, on The Port City Yokohama—Advanced and Traditional Culture as well as a number of other addresses on topics that members of the general public found highly stimulating. The hall was filled with an enthusiastic audience of well over 100 people, and a steady stream of questions and comments were posed by not only university faculty members but also other participants. The venue was decked with posters that introduced the participating universities, and complimentary pamphlets and maps from the various countries represented proved popular.

On May 22 (Friday), upon the conclusion of the PUL international seminar, a related roundtable meeting was held at the YNU campus. The exchanges at this meeting helped reconfirm the importance of cooperation and contributions by the universities affiliated with PUL in achieving the ecologically sustainable development of the ocean and port cities. Also, progress was made in further bolstering exchange programs between PUL universities, advancing preparations for the fifth seminar in this series (scheduled for Vancouver, Canada), and fostering constructive discussions on the direction and goals to be pursued by PUL over the coming years.

Furthermore, Alexandria University (Egypt) and Istanbul Technical University (Turkey) were recognized at the meeting as new members. This brings the PUL network to 12 universities from 11 countries, including the University of Southampton (United Kingdom), Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (Vietnam), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China), the University of Lisbon (Portugal), the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Pukyong National University (South Korea), the University of British Columbia (Canada), Indian Institute of Technology (India), Yokohama City University ( Japan), and Yokohama National University ( Japan).

On May 23 (Saturday), a program was organized to allow seminar participants from other countries to experience some of the attractions and activities that the Yokohama area had to offer. The morning hours were devoted to gathering shellfish at low tide, a popular leisure activity in Japan, at Sea Park (near Hakkeijima island). The afternoon featured visits to Shomyoji Temple (adjacent to Kanazawa Bunko, a library famed for its collection of historical records and books) and Sankeien Garden, where guests came into contact with some of the unique aspects of Japanese history and culture. Strolling through the rich new green growth of the early summer season, many participants took several photographs to record memories of the elegant beauty of the temple and garden grounds.

YNU Team Advances to Championship Round of WTO Law Moot Court! A team of students from the YNU International Graduate School of Social Sciences recently vied in the Asia Regional round of the

Moot Court Competition on WTO Law (held in March at National Taiwan University), an event sponsored by the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA).

S taff and Student Exchanges

ELSA’s adjusted the rules for this annual competition went into effect this year, and it was decided to hold the Final Round, previously staged each year in Geneva, Switzerland, on a rotating basis in various regions. This year’s finals therefore took place in Taiwan in May. As the only Japanese team in the competition this year, YNU’s debaters were representing not only the university but Japan.

Last year, the YNU team was eliminated in the preliminary round of the competition. This year’s squad fared better, triumphing over a lineup of strong

schools from East Asia and qualifying for the Final Round in May. Under the guiding hand of coach Mustafa Moinuddin, a second-year student in the latter term of the International Graduate School of Social Sciences doctoral course, the team scored high marks for developing positions on a sound and logical foundation that addressed the complex topic of trade and the environment, which is a theme considered particularly challenging among the issues addressed within the realm of WTO dispute settlement procedures.

This excellent performance reflects the fruits of the special training sessions organized by Associate Professor Nerida Rand of the YNU International Graduate School of Social Sciences, who worked diligently to help the team acquire effective debating techniques. In addition, the YNU team walked away with the Best Complainant Written Submission Award and the Best Overall Written Submission Award. Among those recognized individually, Yan Weibo, a first-year YNU student in the graduate school’s master’s course, earned the highly coveted Best Orator Award.

International Students Tour the Port of Yokohama In late April, a group of 84 international students,

primarily made up of those studying at the YNU International Graduate School of Social Sciences, toured the port of Yokohama.

At present, approximately 250 international students are enrolled at the Graduate School of Social Sciences, where they are taking the doctoral course as government-financed students under grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; privately financed students; or scholarship students attached to a number of human resource development programs. Among the available course work, the prior term doctoral course taught in English contains six programs. Participating in this joint tour of the port of Yokohama were students from these six programs (55 students from 26 different nations).

These six programs offered to international students are organized by course, the classes of which are taught in English. A general breakdown of these opportunities is as follows: the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program ( JJ/WBGSP); the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Transition Economy Program; the Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship ( JDS Program) administered by the Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA); the Inter-America Development Bank’s Japan-IDB Scholarship Program; the Indonesian Government Scholarship Program (IGS); and the Indonesia Linkage Program (ILP).

Students in different international programs find themselves with limited opportunities to interact and deepen friendships with other students despite attending the same graduate school. Therefore, for this joint tour, in addition to the international students enrolled in these programs, Japanese students who serve as daily tutors, faculty members, and others were invited to take part—an extra feature that contributed to many brisk and thought-provoking exchanges.

On the day of the tour, a detailed explanation was delivered by an English-speaking port guide arranged in advance. This made the group more aware of the history and globalization of the port of Yokohama, with the half-day activity underscoring the increasingly international development of the YNU Graduate School of Social Sciences.

For additional information about YNU please contact:Yokohama National University Student Affairs Department, Student Exchange Division

79-1 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, Japan 240-8501 TEL: +81-45-339-3185

E-mail: ryugakusei.kikaku@nuc.ynu.ac.jp URL: http://www.ynu.ac.jp/index_en.html

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