Delegation from the Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities visits Tokyo Tech

A delegation of thirteen from the Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities visited Tokyo Tech in the afternoon of August 6^th. The proposal of establishing this intergovernmental expert committee was first introduced and agreed at the second trilateral summit in 2009 to examine and develop quality-assured exchanges between universities of the three countries.c

Tokyo Tech, an active member of the concept of CAMPUS Asia - Collective Action for Mobility Program of University students in Asia, implemented the TKT CAMPUS Asia Consortium together with China's Tsinghua University and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2011 after it was awarded a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) grant in the Re-Inventing Japan Project.

The purpose of this visit was for the delegation to observe exchange activities among the three countries' universities initiated by Tokyo Tech after the 4^th Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities held in Tokyo earlier that day.

Following the opening address by the President Yoshinao Mishima and the introduction of Tokyo Tech's TKT CAMPUS Asia Consortium by Project Leader Professor Masahiko Hara, current Summer Program participants from Tsinghua and KAIST as well as Tokyo Tech students who were exchanged to the aforementioned partner universities last year gave presentations on their study-abroad experiences. The follow-up discussion after the presentations further provided students a chance to exchange ideas with the delegation and to voice their opinions regarding the program feasibility based on their first-hand experiences.

To wrap up the visit, the delegation and the program participating students toured the Environmental Energy Innovation (EEI) Building, an award-winning building designed to confront global warming with a cutting-edge energy system design. Associate Professor Manabu Ihara gave a tour and briefly explained how the building is nearly self-sufficient at producing electricity it consumes and has significantly reduced its carbon dioxide emissions, showcasing one of Tokyo Tech's latest technological and architectural achievements.