On November 10, as part of the activities of the Study in Japan Global Network Project in ASEAN commissioned by MEXT, "Online English Presentation Contest - what we love about our university-” was held in English, and a representative team from Okayama University won 3rd prize.

The contest was co-hosted by the Consortium of Six National Universities in Japan (Chiba University, Niigata University, Kanazawa University, Okayama University, Nagasaki University, and Kumamoto University), a partner institution of Study in Japan Global Network Project in ASEAN, to promote the attractiveness of Japanese universities throughout ASEAN and to provide opportunities for student exchange between Japan and ASEAN countries. The contest was attended by 13 contestants from Japan and 40 viewers from ASEAN.

At the beginning of the contest, Vice President for International Affairs and Alumni SUZUKI Takayoshi delivered opening remarks on behalf of the organizers and encouraged the representative students of each university. Professor KADOTA Isao from the Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology also participated as a judge.

YAMASHITA Ayana (School of Education, 2nd year), KAWAKAMI Rikuto (School of Economics, 2nd year), and YAMAZAKI Ryuhi (Medical School, 1st year) represented Okayama University, all of whom minor in the Special Program for Global Human Resource Development (aka “The G-Course”) offered by the Institute of Global Human Resource Development. They explained the attractiveness of Okayama University from an international student's point of view and introduced unique facilities such as Okayama Visionary Commons and Pergola. As a result, they won 3rd prize which was decided by the judges' evaluations. After the contest, an interaction session was held with viewers from ASEAN.

Students who participated in the contest commented, " Being asked questions directly by ASEAN students allowed me to think more deeply about my university" and " I was happy that I could be of help to ASEAN people who are interested in studying in Japan in the future”.

Study in Japan Global Network Project in ASEAN will continue to promote the attractiveness of Japanese universities and study in Japan in order to attract excellent international students from ASEAN.


〇 What is Study in Japan Global Network Project in ASEAN?
Okayama University was appointed to implement the “Study in Japan Global Network Project in ASEAN” which is funded by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) - Japan in 2019. Our aim is to increase the number of international students from ASEAN 1.5 times in 5 years. In the previous phase, Okayama University was commissioned by MEXT - Japan to implement the “Coordinator for Study in Japan (Myanmar)” in 2014, aiming to double the number of students from Myanmar over a 5-year period. As a result, Okayama University were able to triple the number of students in 4 years, achieving our goal one year ahead. In 2018, the name of the project was changed to “Study in Japan Global Network Project in ASEAN” and the target region was expanded to 10 ASEAN countries.
Currently, Okayama University has oversea offices in Yangon and Mandalay (Myanmar), Bangkok (Thailand), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), and Vientiane (Laos). From these 5 bases, Okayama University will work to recruit excellent international students from ASEAN to study in Japan.