Tokyo (SCCIJ) – The cooperation network between Swiss and Japanese universities is strengthening even further. The University of Zurich (UZH) and Kyoto University as well as the University of Lausanne and Keio University in Tokyo have each entered into new partnerships.
Professor Juichi Yamagiwa, President of Kyoto University, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a joint strategic partnership in Kyoto (Image used with permission of UZH)
Enhanced cooperation
With the strategic deal with Japan’s second-oldest university, the University of Zurich has achieved its strategic goal of developing a comprehensive and deep partnership with a university in Asia. Both universities are stepping up their cooperation in research and teaching and increasing efforts to support junior academics. “With its strong focus on innovation and digitalization, Asia plays a key role in university education, science, and technology,” said Gabriele Siegert, President ad interim.
Establishing strategic partnerships is one of the declared priorities in the UZH internationalization strategy. “Kyoto University was our preferred choice,” said Christian Schwarzenegger, Vice President Faculty Affairs and Scientific Information. “Both Kyoto and Zurich are places of education and inspiration.” The ties between KU and UZH go back 40 years when both law faculties began working together. Subsequent cooperation also developed in medicine, biology, and the humanities.
For example, the Institute for Regenerative Medicine of UZH and the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application of Kyoto University have had close ties for many years. Several research workshops and symposiums have also already been held in the other fields. One of the focus areas of the strategic partnership will be Society 5.0, the Japanese concept of a “super-smart” society that is sustainable, inclusive, and powered by digital technologies.
Lausanne and Keio
The University of Lausanne (UNIL) announced a new university-wide agreement with Keio University. According to a report by the Science & Technology Office at the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan, the agreement promotes both the mobility of exchange students as well as visits of lecturers between the two institutions. With this new agreement, Keio University has now six agreements with Swiss universities ongoing. Annually, 20 Japanese students and 20 to 30 students from Swiss Universities take part in exchange programs.
UNIL expects to send students mainly in the fields of Business and Economics, and also to the Keio International Program. The Japanese students sent to Lausanne will likely be in economics and also study French as a foreign language as Keio University has a Department of French. The agreement covers the exchange of four undergraduate or graduate students per semester each year.
According to Keio University, it offers University of Lausanne students various opportunities to take courses in English through its International Program. On offer are studies on Japan and Asia with Japanese language courses, courses from the Faculty of Economics and its Graduate School as well as the Faculty of Business and Commerce and its Graduate School. Master students can conduct research under the supervision of a Keio scientist. Students with a good command of Japanese (JLPT level 2) can take regular courses in Japanese. But intensive Japanese language learning programs are also available for the Swiss students.
Text: SCCIJ partly with material of UZH (with permission)
