[Report] Kick-off Event (25th March 2021)
A kick-off event for this project, the “Past and Future of the Exchange Programs in Africa of TUFS: IAfP Kick-off Joint Conference” was held on Thursday, 25th March 2021.
Held online using Zoom, the event drew 71 participants from Rwanda, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa and Japan.
First of all, Prof.Shinichi Takeuchi, Director of the African Studies Center, gave an opening address. Next, five African partner universities (Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences [PIASS], University of Ghana, University of Zambia, University of Pretoria, and Stellenbosch University) of TUFS introduced their schools and study abroad systems. Three students who have been to partner universities in Africa from TUFS and three African students who came to TUFS from our partner universities in Africa shared their experiences of studying abroad. We have invited a professor from PIASS to join the session of PIASS, since a certain number of exchange studies have been conducted regularly between PIASS and TUFS. After the Q&A session, we had a closing address from Professor Jun Matsukuma, Vice President of our university.
For the time adjustment, we have postponed the discussion to the next opportunity, and instead, we had extra Q&A session after the closing. The event was full of contents, but some of the participated students said that it was a valuable opportunity to learn about the partner universities and studying abroad experiences of the students, so it seems like it ended up as a suitable kick-off event. We would like to express our gratitude to our partner universities, speakers and participants for paying efforts and cooperation for this event.
We have edited the students’ experiences as a booklet for this event. It is the record of experiences of TUFS students who have studied in Africa and experiences of the African University students who have studied at TUFS. The first half is in Japanese, the last half is in English. Please check it out. Especially if you are interested in studying in TUFS of Japan, it may help you the ideas of your life in TUFS and Japan. If you wish to see the actual product, you can distribute it at our office.
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16:00-16:10 Opening Remarks (Shinishi Takeuchi, Director of the African Studies Center)
16:10-16:35 Introduction from Partner Universities
1) Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (Rwanda)
Celestin Nsengimana, Dean of Faculty of Development Studies
2) University of Ghana (Ghana)
Eric Osei-Assibey, Dean of International Programmes
3) University of Zambia (Zambia)
Patricia Mwila Sakala, Manager of the International Link and Liaison
4) University of Pretoria (South Africa)
Smart Maqubela, Senior International and Postgraduate Specialist Consultant
5) Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
Robert Kotze, Senior Director of the Stellenbosch University International
6) Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Japan)
Makiko Sakai, Professor of School of International and Area Studies
16:35-17:25 Students’ experiences
1) University of Ghana (Charles Acheampong Agyebeng / Yuki Ide）
2) University of Pretoria (Wendy-Rose Govender / Naoto Mihara）
3) Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (Icishatse Elie Rodrigue / Ayumu Uchida / Prof.Kazuyuki Sasaki)
17:25-17:55 General Discussion (Takanori Oishi, Professor of School of International and Area Studies)
17:55-18:00 Closing remarks (Jun Matsukuma, Vice President of TUFS)
(Moderator: Chihiro Kumashiro, Coordinator of IAfP in TUFS)
IAfP Kick-off Joint Conference
