Gifu University builds network of ‘glocal’ talents
- To promote its internationalisation ideals and attract more enrollees, especially from India and Southeast Asia, Gifu University has opened English courses and broadcasts some lectures on the internet
Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports
Committed to education and research for future generations, Gifu University continues to nurture its near-century heritage in agriculture and 71-year history as an institution for learning. Nestled in Japan’s third-largest metropolitan region, the university’s single fully integrated campus houses five faculties and more than 7,000 undergraduates and postgraduates, of which five per cent are from overseas.
“We help our students grow, learn, explore and contribute as our education and research activities meet the existing needs of the local community, nation and international environment,” says Dr Hisataka Moriwaki, president.
The university offers expertise for practical application, especially in agriculture and engineering, to communities and industries in and outside Japan. It maintains four offices overseas to enable graduate students to pursue additional research in their home countries. Gifu University launched last year joint degree programmes covering food science and technology, engineering and materials science with the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati and the
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Being considered for future expansion are possibly similar academic partnerships in China, Bangladesh and Indonesia, where the university has offices.
We help our students grow, learn, explore and contribute as our education and research activities meet the existing needs of the local community, nation and international environment
To promote its internationalisation ideals and attract more enrollees, especially from India and Southeast Asia, Gifu University has opened English courses and broadcasts some lectures on the internet. The university will continue to organise annual international symposia and undertake research-intensive programmes to encourage discourse and interaction in this cross-cultural setting.
“Local companies, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, are getting a deeper understanding of the importance of international internship in creating ‘glocal’ leaders,” Moriwaki says.
Aiming to be among Japan’s top five universities, Gifu University will present courses on aerospace, nano life science and biological sciences. Additional programmes to be introduced next year are destination management organisation for tourism, agricultural management and business administration.
