Mr. Satoshi Nakamura, Lecturer, and Ms. Noriko Narisawa, Assistant Professor, from Hokkaido University in Japan, visited UNESCO IICBA office on June 14, 2017. Mr. Virgilio Juvane, Senior Program Coordinator of IICBA, Dr. Binyam Sisay, Program Officer and Dr. Martha K. Ferede, Program Specialist, Ms. Subbadra Venkatesan, volunteer and Mr. Tomoharu Takahashi, Japanese intern attended the meeting with them.

In 2008, the Government of Japan announced the '300,000 Foreign Students Plan’ which calls to increase the number of foreign students in Japan by 2020 as part of Japan’s globalization strategy. During the 2014-2018 period, Hokkaido University has been commissioned by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to implement ‘Study-in-Japan Coordinator Project’ in which coordinators are dispatched to promote studying in Japan to eligible people in their targeted countries and regions. Hokkaido University covers the Sub-Sahara Africa region and coordinators from Hokkaido University organized a workshop and Study-in-Japan fair at Nairobi University last year. They plan to do the same at the Addis Ababa University this year.

Hence, IICBA had a discussion with the coordinators from Hokkaido University about possible collaboration areas such as in the research field and capacity building in teacher training institutions in Africa.

This will be in addition to collaboration with Hiroshima University in the scheme of the project “Teacher Training and Development for Peace-Building in the Horn of Africa and Surrounding Countries”, IICBA has been strengthening ties with universities in Japan.