Visit by Saga University

The Inter-University Exchange Project is honored to have hosted the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering Dr. Ichihiko Toyoda, Dr. Khan Tawhidul Islam, as well as seven students of Saga University on December 13th, 2021 in their short visit to our University.

Student representatives from Saga University are members of a leadership development program at Saga University known as STEPS (“Student Association of Excellent and Progressive Spirit”), which is a student-led organization for Dean’s Award recipients in Saga University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering.

STEPS conducts annual overseas training as part of its activities, but has been unable to do so since the pandemic began in 2020. Last year, the group held its first domestic off-campus training in Tanegashima in Kagoshima prefecture.

Other activities by STEPS, such as student exchange meetings with international students on campus, company visits and also English conversation practice, focus on strengthening members’ English skills and enhancing their global perspectives.

Dr. Tomohisa Wada, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University, and two international students from Palau and the Marshall Islands, also participated in the visit, which included a presentation by Saga University on STEPS and an introduction by the Inter-University Exchange Project on the University’s global education initiatives that focused on the Project’s efforts in COIL and virtual exchange. This was followed by a lively Q&A session and a short campus tour that included a visit to the University of the Ryukyus Museum, “Fujukan”.

Representatives from Saga University displayed keen interest in the Fujukan’s extensive collection of taxidermy animal specimens, as well as live habu snakes on exhibit, and “straw calculation,” a method of record and book-keeping using straw that is found uniquely in Okinawa.