International collaboration agreement signed with National Taiwan University
The School of Agriculture has a history of active international exchange since our first exchange in the 1980s with Yanbian Institute of Agriculture (now the School of Agriculture of Yanbian University) in China’s Jilin Province. This was followed by visits by researchers from Xingiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Liaoning Province. Exchanges in those days centered mostly on teaching and research staff, but since 2000 we have been pursuing exchanges involving students. Moreover, the School of Agriculture independently makes funds available from the School of Agriculture Academic Promotion Fund and the School of Agriculture Education and Research Promotion Fund. One of the aims of the fund-raising being the promotion of international exchange, we assist researchers and students with their foreign travel expenses. A solid example of this is the Foreign Farm Stay program introduced by the Department of Agriculture and Economics in 2000. Under this program organized in cooperation with National Taiwan University’s Department of Agriculture and Economics, students attend lectures and go on field trips in Taiwan and are supported by the local students who act as tutors, allowing the students from both countries the opportunity to engage in cultural exchange and to learn about agriculture in Taiwan. In 2008 the Department of Agriculture and Economics overhauled its curriculums and was renamed the Department of Agri-food and Environmental policy and started afresh with National Taiwan University. Since then, many students from National Taiwan University have visited our school, and in order to expand exchange even further the School of Agriculture concluded a collaboration agreement with National Taiwan University in December 2009 and we now plan to widen the scope of these exchanges by including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agricultural Chemistry and the Department Life Sciences.
We also have introduced to all of our departments an ‘Agriculture through English’ course, which is taught by a specially appointed British lecturer, and we are considering employing teaching staff who are well versed in the area of international cooperation. In addition, it is much to our honor that we have turned out many graduates now active. In organizations such as the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and the Japan International Development Organization, we have requested some of them to teach as a lecturer. Many exchanges have been carried out successfully at the individual and laboratory unit level, such as one by Prof. Hiroshi Nagashima with Yunnan Agricultural University. With these exchange achievements as the basis, we are determined to pursue active international exchange and an internationalized education.
