グローバル学科ニュース

Global Studies Professor, Patrick Shorb recently travelled three times to Southeast Asia to conduct research on the collaborative efforts between Japanese and ASEAN higher education. Specifically, he and three other research colleagues visited Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam to learn about the ways Japan and these countries have deepened their cooperation in engineering/technology education in recent years. This is part of a multi-year, 3.3 million yen research grant from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science that seeks to better understand the ways such joint projects have -and have not been-- successful. (For more details see: https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/ja/grant/KAKENHI-PROJECT-23K02514/)

            Each of the three research trips explored a different part of Japan's higher education collaboration efforts in the ASEAN region. Shorb's trip in January to Jakarta was spent learning about the ways, Japanese institutions supported Indonesian efforts to achieve signatory status in the Washington Accords, an international accreditation framework for university-level engineering education. His visit to Kuala Lumpur in July saw him visit the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), a joint project between Japan and Malaysia that seeks to bolster ties in technology education. Lastly, in late July/early August, Shorb visited Hanoi where he spent time at Vietnam-Japan University, a cooperative international project that also involves STEM-related programs.  

            As a researcher, Shorb feels this topic is intrinsically interesting for Japan, the ASEAN region and international relations more generally. However, as a KUISs faculty member, he also hopes to explore such issues of international collaboration with his students, particularly his seminar students in the Global Studies and Global Communications departments. In an increasingly interconnected world, such a project provides an interesting case study of the potential challenges and benefits of international collaboration in the education field.

(Photo Caption: Pictures by Shorb in Indonesia and Malaysia)