Kobe University’s Executive Vice President NAKAMURA Tamotsu (director of the Institute for Promoting International Partnerships) attended the 13th Japan-China University Presidents’ Conference held at Rihga Royal Hotel Hiroshima on Nov. 28 and 29. Kobe University’s Professor HU Yunfang (director of the Beijing Office) was also present. Held since 2000, this biannual conference provides an opportunity for Chinese and Japanese university leaders to meet and discuss topics of mutual interest. The conference was attended by 24 Japanese institutions and 20 Chinese intuitions.

At the welcome reception on Nov. 28, Nakamura and Hu exchanged greetings with His Excellency Mr. WU Jianghao?(the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China in Japan) and Consul General XUE Jian (the Chinese Consulate-General in Osaka). They also deepened the exchange with the participants from Zhejiang University, Fudan University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, which have agreements of academic cooperation with Kobe University.

On Nov. 29, Hiroshima University’s President OCHI Mitsuo, and Sun Yat-sen University’s President GAO Song delivered keynote speeches on the theme of “Diversity and fusion: human resources and higher education in the coming era.” This was followed by lively discussions based on the topics in the Chinese and Japanese university leaders’ speeches, under the themes of “New university education and ICT application in post-colonial Japan” and “Challenges of climate change and global issues.”

At the closing meeting, the participants reflected upon the two-day event, and new member universities were registered. It was decided that the next conference will be held at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China.

The productive two-day conference ended with hopes that mutually beneficial inter-university cooperation between Japanese and Chinese institutions will continue to strengthen.

(Global Engagement Division)