September 23, 2019(Monday)
The 2nd General Meeting of the Association of Institutions of Higher Education of the Russian Federation and Japan was held in Moscow, concurrently with the 8th Russian-Japanese Forum of Rectors. TUFS was represented by Vice President Jun Matsukuma, Professor Shigeru Arai, and Yoko Shiga of the TUFS High-School-University Coordination Support Office.
The association was established in December of 2016 after representatives of the institutions of the higher education of both nations signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the Association of Institutions of Higher Education of the Russian Federation and Japan, with the intention that the association serve to strengthen exchange between Japanese and Russian universities. The association holds general meetings nine months, alternating between Russia and Japan, with the first such meeting held last May in Sapporo. This year’s meeting, the second such meeting, was held in Moscow. Representatives of 20 Japanese universities, including TUFS, were present; 21 Russian universities, including Moscow State University, were represented. Representatives of Japanese and Russian corporations, as well as participants in the Japan-Russia Student Forum, were also present. In total, 150 people participated in the meeting, including 4 TUFS students, of whom 3 had just arrived in Moscow to start long-term exchange programs.
In the opening greetings, speakers expressed hope for an expansion of student exchanges between Russian and Japanese universities, and a strengthening of ties between Russian and Japanese universities. The main session followed, with reports from each university’s personnel exchange, medical and health, and regional development departments. Vice President Jun Matsukuma, serving as representative of TUFS, gave a report on the TUFS Japan-Russia Student Mobility Program: Creating Business Networks and Fostering Human Interaction, a project of the Inter-University Exchange Project (Russia), which was entitled How TUFS encourages students interaction between Russia and Japan, during the session devoted to reports by personnel exchange departments. Additionally, students participating in the 2nd Japan-Russia Student Forum gave a presentation on this forum activities, and presented their action plan for enlarging the scope of the forum’s activities in the future.
The meeting concluded with a wrap-up and the signing of a joint communique by Rector Victor Sadovnichiy of Moscow State University and Acting President Masanori Kasahara of Hokkaido University, authorizing the creation of a Moscow State University-Hokkaido University joint office, joint research projects conducted through either the Human Resource Development Platform for Japan-Russia Economic Cooperation and Personnel Exchange (HaRP) or the Study in Japan Global Network Project, or through the personnel exchange committee, through student associations, specialist section committees, or through specialist sections, the promotion of collaboration between universities and the corporate world as well as inter-field collaboration and exchange, via academic interaction starting with the work of novice researchers. The communique also established that the following general meeting will be held in the first half of 2021, at Niigata University.
