Kyushu University Takes Part in a Japan Festival in Egypt

 Kyushu University took part in a Japan Festival (co-organized by Cairo University and Hiroshima University, with the support of Kyushu University and the Embassy of Japan in Egypt, among others) held on Thursday, December 8, 2016, in Egypt. Staff from our Cairo office and the E-JUST Center attended the event. Held at the campus of Cairo University, whose 250,000 students make it the largest university in Africa, the objective of the festival was to introduce Japanese culture and education to students in Egypt. More than 500 people took part on the day, mainly undergraduate students from various Egyptian universities.

 In the morning session, participating students strolled around the booths set up by a number of Japanese universities, the Embassy of Japan in Egypt, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Cairo Research Station, and various companies, gathering information about Japanese culture and studying in Japan as an international student. A steady stream of students hoping to study in Japan visited the Kyushu University booth, where they listened intently as Cairo Office Director Safwat Hassasaballa and Vice Director Tamer Nasr , both of whom successfully completed programs of study at our university, spoke about student life and scholarships.

 The afternoon session featured a number of presentations, during which Hiroko Kinoshita, a post-doctoral fellow at the E-JUST Center , provided an introduction to Kyushu University. After the presentation, students who had been unable to visit the booth asked numerous questions about such specific matters as student life at our university and the timing at which applications were sought from those wishing to study abroad here. In addition, the Embassy of Japan in Egypt explained the concept behind the Egypt Japan Educational Partnership (EJEP) and its international student sponsorship program.

 Kyushu University has strong links with Egypt: as of May 1, 2016, the university had 46 international students from Egypt (putting Egypt in sixth place in the list of the most common countries of origin of our university’s international students) and has established an office in Cairo. Moreover, our university has worked with various Egyptian partners, including providing support for the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) project.

 We will continue to engage in exchange with Egypt, aiming to establish it as a hub for further international expansion into the Middle East and Africa.