Okayama University participated in the Japan-China University Fair/Forum in China 2019, an event organized by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and held in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China, from May 25 to 27. This is one of the largest events in China for academic exchange and industry-academia cooperation, targeted at universities, research institutes and companies from the two countries. The three missions of this event were “exchange between universities,” “promotion of studying abroad,” and “industry-academia cooperation.”

On the first day, a round-table meeting of university presidents from Japan and China took place. The participants were divided into five groups of 10 to 15, and made presentations about the initiatives undertaken by each university related to the themes of each group: “Evaluation and development of teaching staff at universities,” “How to encourage Japan-China joint research,” “Global talent development,” “Best practice of industry-academia cooperation,” and “International cooperation for the development of engineers.” President MAKINO Hirofumi was in the “Global talent development” group and introduced Okayama University’s initiatives, highlighting the Discovery Program for Global Learners and SDG promotion activities.

The second day’s programs included one-on-one talks between university presidents from both countries and the University Fair. Presidents of Chinese universities seeking coalitions and partnerships with Japanese universities had summit meetings with their counterparts. At the University Fair booth, Okayama University introduced itself to visitors, including Chinese students, who hope to study in Japan, and officials from universities and Japanese language schools in China.