Okayama University concluded a student exchange agreement on September 29 between the Tsushima campus and Institut national de la recherché scientifique (INRS) in Quebec, a graduate level university institution promoting the highest level of research in Canada. This student exchange agreement, following upon agreement of cooperation with INRS in February this year, will promote the interchange of information and joint research in a wide range of advanced research fields and interaction among faculty and students.

Six faculty members from INRS, including Vice-Rector Yves Begin and EMT Center representative Ali El Khakani, and seven from Okayama University including Executive Director and Vice President for Research Shin-ichi Yamamoto; Prof. Hideki Tanaka, who heads the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology and Prof. Hiroshi Kanzaki, who heads the Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science;, participated in the signing ceremony. Vice-Rector Begin and Executive Director/Vice President Masaru Araki of Okayama University (Social Responsibility and International Affairs) performed the signing. After that, Vice Rector Begin and his colleagues paid a courtesy call to President Kiyoshi Morita, and exchanged views on promoting human exchange in the future.

The next day, on the 30th, a research exchange workshop was held at the Tsushima Campus. An energetic discussion took place among researchers in optical, material and environmental sciences--fields in which both universities excel.

The impetus for exchange between our two institutions was the initiation of a joint research project between Associate Professor Toshihiko Kiwa of our Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology and Professor Tsuneyuki Ozaki of the EMT Center at INRS, centered around a teraherz chemical microscope invented by the former. Even after that finished, lively human exchanges and research exchanges proceeded, particularly among faculty in the Graduate Schools of Natural Sciences and Technology and, Environmental and Life Sciences, leading to conclusion of the exchange agreement between our two universities this year.

Contact information
Okayama University Research Administration (URA) Office
E-mail: ura-info(a)okayama-u.ac.jp
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