On December 7, 16 students and two faculty members accompanying them visited Kochi University’s Asakura Campus from Anhui University, China, one of our partner universities, as part of the “SAKURA Exchange Program in Science,” an international youth exchange program hosted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency in which the Kochi International Association is involved as a host organization.
  This mission came from Anhui Province, a sister municipality of Kochi Prefecture, and the main aim of their study tour was to visit disaster management facilities in the prefecture to learn about the prefecture’s measures being taken against the Nankai earthquake. Kochi University supported this tour through programs such as a lecture given by Professor Niino, Director, Center for International Collaboration, entitled “Kochi University’s International Cooperation in Disaster Management,” and an introduction to the “Center for Disaster Prevention Promotion, Kochi University” by Director Sasahara of the center. Students from Anhui University asked many questions with enthusiasm in a question-and-answer session following the lecture and deepened their understanding of disaster management-related university research and education.
  After that, they had lunch with students from Anhui University who had been admitted to Kochi University as exchange students this October and exchanged information about life in Kochi as an international student among other things. After the lunch, they were shown around the Asakura Campus and then participated in a tour of the Science Gallery inside the Faculty of Science and Technology guided by graduate students.
  Comments from the participants include: “It was helpful to see how the things that we had seen and heard about during our study tour of the prefecture up until yesterday were being used in research and other projects carried out by the university,” and “I have learned a lot of things by listening to students sharing their stories about their life as an international student from a student’s point of view.”

＜Lecture by Professor Niinou, Director, Center for International Collaboration＞

＜Group photo＞