As part of our educational program, we hold a symposium every year on our founding anniversary, primarily for first-year students, to learn about our founding principles and social role. For the 2025 academic year, the symposium was held on Thursday, September 25th, with the main venue being the Amagasaki Campus, and the event was streamed online to both the Miki and Kobe Yamate Campuses, with the theme "Connecting the World, Expanding Learning - From a Campus Where Multiculturalism Lives Together."
To kick off the event, President Atsushi Hamana delivered a speech marking the university's founding anniversary, followed by a lecture by Toshihiro Menju, a visiting professor at our university and a renowned expert on Japan's foreign student policy and multicultural coexistence. Menju spoke about the efforts underway across the country to connect multicultural coexistence to regional vitality, and, drawing on his own experiences, emphasized the importance of "noticing differences, understanding their backgrounds, and building trusting relationships with diverse people." He also advised Japanese students that "you can experience multiculturalism on campus even if you don't study abroad," and advised international students to "go beyond your own country's peers and take the initiative to expand your interactions with diverse people."
Next, four students from the School of International Communication, School of Business Administration, and School of Health and Medical Sciences took to the stage to talk about their experiences of learning and collaborating with peers from diverse cultural backgrounds, and offered advice to first-year students about the importance of "having the courage to take on challenges" as they continue to grow during their university life. During the discussion and Q&A session, first-year students and other participants actively exchanged opinions, sharing the importance of respecting diversity and proactively learning from each other.
This symposium was a valuable opportunity to reaffirm the educational philosophy of our university, which is to foster the ability to understand different values and work together in an increasingly globalized society.
