“Kochi University International Day 2016” took place on the University’s Asakura Campus on November 30. This was the first “International Day” event, and the whole day was dedicated to international exchange-related programs, namely a “Study Abroad Briefing Session,” a “Training Session for Clerical Staff in Charge of International Exchanges,” a “Culture Café” (this year’s theme was Argentinian culture) and the “First President’s Cup Japanese Speech Competition for International Students,” which attracted a total of over 100 participants from both inside and outside the University.
  The main program, a “Japanese Speech Competition” was entered by 11 international students, of whom Seung-Hoon Jang from Korea, who gave a speech entitled “Bridging the Gap between Japan and Korea,” was awarded the grand prize and presented with a trophy by President Wakiguchi. All speeches were evaluated by President Wakiguchi and others from inside and outside the University, a student group for promoting international exchanges and the audience in the venue. All the speakers were honored with a certificate of a different award depending on the topic of their speech, such as “Warm Heart Prize” and “Prize for Love of Kochi,” and a gift. Comments from the audience included: “I was surprised by the fluency of their Japanese.” “This gave me the opportunity to learn about the different situations in different countries, as well as to see Japan from an objective point of view.” “It was a moving and encouraging experience to listen to students from other countries speaking about their dreams with confidence.”
  This year’s third “Study Abroad Briefing Session” was also held on the same day and about 20 students participated in it. This session, which had been prepared and organized mainly by students with study abroad experience, introduced an “Online Meet-up” for the first time, to allow participants to ask questions in real-time to students currently studying in the United States, the Netherlands and Sweden on student-exchange programs through an online video conferencing service. This gave participants the opportunity to seek advice on what preparations are needed before leaving Japan, ask exchange students about the advantages of each university where they were learning right now, and so on, and was received very positively.
  “Training Session for Clerical Staff in Charge of International Exchanges,” participated in by 15 persons from inside and outside the University, featured a lecture given by Professor Nino, Head of the Center for International Collaboration, entitled “Internationalization Required of Global Universities,” followed by an enthusiastic Q & A session, in which participants asked questions about international initiatives by local universities and future challenges.
  The last program was a social gathering held at the student co-op cafeteria on-campus, where Japanese and non-Japanese students and faculty and staff members of the University and related individuals from outside the University enjoyed communicating with each other while sharing their comments about the speech competition.