For any students wanting to try
international exchange on campus
Relations with foreign universities
Ibaraki University Center for Global Education provides opportunities for co-production for our students with foreign students by implementing online interactions inside and outside the classes using ICTs with our overseas partner schools.
1. Classes with exchange activities with students overseas.
The year of
2022
The year of
2021
The year of
2020
The year of 2022
the Japanese Pop Culture A class (First Quarter, 2022)
17 students from Ibaraki University enrolled in the Japanese Pop Culture A class (First Quarter, 2022) and 23 students studying Japanese language at the University of Wisconsin-Superior in the United Sates interacted online. During the exchange, the participants were divided into groups and meet twice to discuss current issues that they were interested in from April 20 to May 6. On the morning of Saturday, May 7, Japan Time (evening in Wisconsin), all the participants got together on ZOOM and had a session to report what they had discussed in each group. Students commented that “Having conversations with them has open my mind to new perspective and to think broader.” and “It was really exciting because i can communicate with a lot of new people from another country and widen up my knowledge about habits and culture in another country.”
The students will compile what they have discussed and create an online article as an assignment for this class.
The year of 2021
Japanese Pop Culture A (1st quarter)
24 students from Ibaraki University and 11 students from Pennsylvania State University interacted for 3 weeks (from 11th of May to 4th of June 2021) every night. In the activities, our 5-6 students joined the Pennsylvania State University’s class called “Japanese through Manga” daily, to have a conversation about Japanese Pop Culture in Japanese, in groups of 3-5 students.
Japanese teaching method 1 (Second half)
4 students from Ibaraki University and 19 students from Michigan State University (USA) had 60 minute conversations five times. In the exchange, Ibaraki University students planned and performed communication activities in Japanese. It was impressive to see students from both schools enjoying the conversation in Japanese.
4 students from Ibaraki University helped local based Japanese language class in Vietnam, operated by Hai Phong University with Hai Phong University students. The class was for children in Hai Phong city, and the 4 students seemed having a great time with those children.
Study Abroad (3rd quarter)
19 students from Ibaraki University and 8 students from Pennsylvania State University interacted twice. Students from Ibaraki University made questionnaires to define what topics to talk about beforehand, so they could have some conversation ideas for the day. On the actual exchange day, students had 20 minutes to talk freely. The topics were about the differences between each school and daily lives between Japan and the states, and favorite music and movies. They all seemed enjoyed the time.
Studies in Particular Field (3rd quarter)
9 students from Ibaraki University and 14 students from University of Wisconsin-Superior interacted twice. In an hour, students were divided into small groups, and the first half they tried the activity that Ibaraki University students provided, the second half they did the discussions that students from University of Wisconsin-Superior planned. Some of our students said “I wish we could do more.”, “I am glad to meet students in foreign country”.
The year of 2020
Japanese teaching method 2 (First Half)
25 students from Ibaraki University and 23 students from Pennsylvania State University interacted online and worked on the following. Students from Ibaraki University joined and watched a Japanese class at Pennsylvania State University using ZOOM. Students from Ibaraki University tried simulated classes for 15 minutes in the Japanese class at Pennsylvania State University. Students from Ibaraki University and students from Pennsylvania State University made groups of 4 and communicated once a week outside class.
Japanese Pop Culture A (1st quarter)
35 students from Ibaraki University and 11 students from Pennsylvania State University interacted online every night for 3 weeks. (From 18th of May to 5th of June 2020) In the activity, they talked about Japanese pop culture in Japanese for 30 minutes.
Japanese Pop Culture B (2nd quarter)
37 students from Ibaraki University and 24 students from Pennsylvania State University communicated for hour and half on the night of July 29th. Students from Ibaraki University prepared some ideas to discuss in advance, and they carried out their plans on that day.
English Communication (2nd quarter)
19 students from Ibaraki University and 24 students from Pennsylvania State University had 8 chances to talk in English for 30 minutes.
Japanese teaching method 1 (second half)
16 students from Ibaraki University and 30 students from Michigan State University had 6 opportunities to talk in Japanese for 60 minutes. Students from Ibaraki University planned some communication activities in advance, and carried out their ideas online.
16 students from Ibaraki University and 25 students from Hai Phong University had 6 opportunities to talk in Japanese for 90 minutes. Students from Ibaraki University planned some communication activities in advance, and carried out their ideas online.
Seminar in Japanese teaching method (second half)
14 students from Ibaraki University tried practical teaching training online in Japanese classes at University of Wisconsin-Superior (USA), Pennsylvania State University (USA), University of Iowa (USA), Newcastle University (UK), Indonesia University of Education (Indonesia), University of Science Malaysia (Malaysia) and Inje University (Korea).
Studies in Particular Field (3rd quarter)
10 students from Ibaraki University and 9 students from University of Wisconsin-Superior interacted for 60 minutes in both Japanese and English, twice in November. Students from Ibaraki University planned some activities for communication in advance, and they carried out their ideas online.
2. Interactions outside the class.
At Ibaraki University, we offer students many opportunities to interact with students overseas outside class.
Tandem learning (second half)
Ibaraki University Center for Global Education has provided “Tandem Learning” since 2019.
Tandem Learning is a way of education in which students having different native languages make group in pairs, and they learn each other’s language or culture by using some free voice call applications such as ZOOM or LINE.
2021 was the third year of using Tandem Learning, and 74 students from Ibaraki University and 83 students from partner schools overseas joined the Tandem Learning. In this activity, we hold frequent meetings to share the information to see how the things go with Tandem Learning. In the meeting, the topic was not only about Tandem Learning, but also students plans or questions about studying abroad. As a result, this opportunity created a meaningful exchange of information about studying abroad, even under the COVID-19 situation.
Exchange with students from the University of Technology Sydney
(Australia, 10 students participated, on the 1st of June 2021)
10 students from Ibaraki University interacted with students from the class of “Japanese Media and Current Issues” at University of Technology Sydney. Students from the University of Technology Sydney made newsletters to introduce Australia’s current affairs, and to celebrate the publication, an exchange event was planned and held by students. It was planned mostly by students from the University of Technology Sydney. During the event, students used Japanese, English and some other languages to talk about their own country’s current affairs in a lively and fun atmosphere.
Exchange with students from the University of New South Wales
(Australia, from the beginning of October to the end of November 2020.)
Forty freshman applicants from the Ibaraki University interacted online with an equal number of students from the University of New South Wales, who had studied the Japanese language. UNSW (University of New South Wales) is one of the national universities in Australia, located in Sydney. In this activity, students made groups of 2 students from Ibaraki University and 2 students from UNSW and communicated once a week. Some of them talked about their hobbies or specialties, some watched their favorite movies or anime together, and even some of the groups ate together and had conversations about their countries’ diet habits online. Students from Ibaraki University said “We could find something new every single time.”, some said “I thought I couldn’t speak English well, but I felt that I could once I tried, and I could understand for the most part what the other person said. This gave me confidence in English.” One student said “The saddest thing was that I couldn’t say everything perfectly in the conversation in English, but this sadness made me willing to say more using English, so overall, this experience gave me a positive feeling.” It seemed the students enjoyed this activity and also this activity gave them some good reasons to study English more in the future.