Report on the FY2022 Summer Program

2022年11月15日更新

(日本語での記載はこちら)
The Summer Program was again held online this year to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This year's event started on June 20, with a special lecture "Sticking out or standing out - Leveraging diversity as a strength" by Ms. Jun Miyachi, President & CEO of Cartier Japan.
Project Work, in which overseas students and our students worked together, started on the same day, followed by the Japanese Language Course for Japanese language learners (10th year) starting on July 18th, and the Subject Based Course in English (12th year) starting on July 25th.
In addition, the activities of the Summer Program Student Committee members were conducted as a class ("Practicum of Intercultural ExchangeI") this year as an attempt to promote exchanges with international students in the Summer Program. The committee planned and organized a variety of activities.
A total of 129 students participated in the Summer Program: 28 students from 9 partner universities in 8 countries, 44 students attending classes in English, and 57 members of the Summer Program Student Committee. Participating students took part in activities focusing on 3 pillars: leadership, cross-cultural understanding and Japanese language education.

In the Japanese Language Course, the students participated in the Online Virtual Tour and made presentations on what they had learned on the tour. On the day of the presentation, Professors from overseas partner universities and students from our university also participated in asking questions.
In the Subject Based Course, the participants divided into 3 sub-courses to take part in intensive courses on the subjects of "Gender, Globalization and Diversity in Contemporary Japan," "Advances in Natural Sciences" and "Food, Crafts, and Physical Activities in Japan.” In addition, "Project Work" was designed to address issues faced by Japan today from a variety of perspectives, including “Rapidly Aging Society,” “Gender Equality,” “Immigration and Ethnic Minorities,” “Renewable Energy Policy” and “Food Loss and Waste”. The multinational students picked one theme from the above and gave presentations through pair and group work
Three special lectures were also held as part of the class. The first was "WOMENOMICS IMPERATIVE" by Ms. Kathy Matsui, General Partner, MPower Partners. The second was “Quality education for all: SDGs and Japan's international cooperation" by Ms. Takako Koizumi, Deputy Director General for Planning Human Development Department, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the last was "Education for Sustainable Development in Japan" by Prof. Miki Sugimura of the Faculty of Integrated Human Sciences, Sophia University.
In collaboration with Ochanomizu University Junior High school, an on-demand exchange program was also held, in which junior high school students created English presentations on Japanese culture, which were shown to international students to encourage online interaction.
Extracurricular activities included a dialogue event on the themes of “Communication" and "Local Production for Local Consumption” and "Japanese-World Culture Event" organized by the Summer Program Student Committee. Online exchange events included Tanabata, the Drawing Game and Japanese confectionary cooking events. Movie clips introducing university life (club activities and daily life) and Japanese culture (Japanese confectionary, etc.) were also produced and distributed. The program came to a successful close with participants actively engaging in international exchange activities.