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Kyushu University Summer Program
UMAP Leaders Program
Promoting Student Mobility between Universities in the Asia-Pacific Region

Tomomi Okazaki
Associate Professor
International Student Center

Last year Kyushu University International Student Center launched UMAP Leaders Program, a 6-week summer program, which was the very first attempt of its kind by a national university in Japan. The major goal of this program is to enhance student exchange between UMAP (University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific) member countries/territories by developing a new credits transfer scheme, with the aim of educating young people in Asia-Pacific to be future leaders in this region. The first year's program, which received twenty students from eight universities in five countries/territories, was completed with great success and was appraised highly by the participants. This year we welcomed twenty five students from eight universities in six countries/territories: Pusan National University (Korea), National Taiwan University, Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, Rice University (U.S.A.), and Amherst College (U.S.A.).Just like last year's program, participants were offered a choice of either Asian Studies courses in the Humanities & Social Science track or Laboratory Work courses in the Natural Science track according to their interest or major, together with Japanese Language Courses, which were for everyone.

Perhaps the most noticeable change in this year's program was the increased number of Kyushu University students who enrolled in the Asian Studies courses. A total of seventy students, compared with ten students last year, took one or more Asian Studies courses, which were taught in English by invited professors from top universities/institutions abroad. In a special lecture to the participants of the UMAP Leaders Program, Professor Tisato Kajiyama, President of Kyushu University, emphasized the importance of cross-cultural experiences and finding yet another part of oneself. We believe that both the guest students from UMAP member countries/territories and the home students at Kyushu University gained the benefit of such precious experiences and found another part of themselves by studying together in the international atmosphere of this year's Kyushu University Summer Program.