SU Welcomes President of Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, Builds Rapport

On February 10^th, 2023, President of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Noboru Akamine paid his first visit to Soochow University with a team of 18 members. They were given a warm welcome by SU faculty members including Dean of the School of Foreign Languages and Cultures and Director of the Global Program in Interdisciplinary Studies Shi-He Wang, Director of the International Affairs Center (IAS) Ke-Bao Su, and Professor of the Department of Japanese Language and Culture Nagata Seimin. 

After an introduction video and a tour of the campus, the visiting guests praised Soochow for its education environment and geographic location. They were introduced to the Global Program in Interdisciplinary Studies (GPIS) and Chinese Language Center before checking in on five of the fellow Okinawan students from the GPIS.

Akamine showed great interest in the GPIS and Chinese Language Center’s curriculum plan and promised to recommend the programs to high school students back in Japan, while expressing his gratitude to SU for taking care of the Okinawan students.

The Japanese guests provided their advice regarding the Chinese language program in order to appeal to their students, as well as led a discussion about the reasons for the evident increase in the number of those who wish to experience life in Taiwan as an exchange student. They also made the suggestion of organizing a short-term, 30-day camp with exchange activities so as to attract more students to join SU’s programs.

Dean Wang stated that the School of Foreign Languages and Cultures and the GPIS will certainly make a great effort to deepen the exchange and collaboration between both parties and strengthen SU’s internationalization.

SU has signed an academic exchange agreement with the University of the Ryukyus starting from 2019, and the IAS has since built a decent rapport with Okinawa’s local industries, officials, universities, and NGOs. Back then IAS staff were interviewed by the prefecture’s radio station, and a special segment of a program was reserved for introducing Soochow University.