Following the opening remarks by Prof. HAYASHI Kaori, Executive Vice President for International Affairs of the University of Tokyo, congratulatory remarks were delivered by His Excellency Mr. Sibi GEORGE, the Ambassador of India to Japan, and Ms. YOSHIOKA Michi, Deputy Director, Higher Education Bureau, Policy Division, Office for International Planning at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

The keynote speech was given by Prof. Gautam BISWAS, Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) and former President of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), with a presentation titled “The India-Japan Collaboration”. In the speech, he shared his rich experience of joint research with universities in Japan and prospects about Japan-India exchange based on his experience.

He introduced that Japan and India have a long history of cultural and scientific exchange which started before the birth of Christ with the introduction of Buddhism and manufacturing method of iron. He commented that many historical people also interacted between Japan and India in the modern period.

He also mentioned that he had visited Japan as an invited fellow of JSPS in 1994 for the first time and that his Japanese supervisor had then visited India which led to the start of joint research between Japanese and Indian universities. He also mentioned that joint research in various fields have been carried out to date.

He pointed out that Japan and India should strengthen cooperation in various fields such as space science, deep-sea exploration, health care, traffic and education and that the mutual understanding between two countries connected deeply through its culture will act as its foundation. At the end of his presentation, he referred to the words of OKAKURA Tenshin, a Japanese historic artist, “Asia is one”.

Following Prof. BISWAS, the four universities selected to the Inter-University Exchange Project Platform Building Program (India) Supported by MEXT gave presentations.

Prof. Madhusoodhan SATISH KUMAR, Vice President of Niigata University, gave a presentation about a project of Niigata University, Human Resource Development Program on Field Science Research in the Indo-Pacific Region, which aims to let students understand the different situations of environment issues in each region and raise their mind-set to solve them through field work with the partner universities of Niigata University in India, Australia and Sri Lanka. He explained that students carry out research both in the field and online in the program and that 20 students from each country had already participated in the online course in 2022. He commented that they have short- and middle-term courses and double degree programs as part of this program and further explained that they plan to have a joint degree program also.

Professor Emeritus SUZUKI Atsushi, the Coordinator of the Yokohama International Education Program at Yokohama National University gave a presentation about the project, “YOKOHAMA-SXIP”, which aims to raise talents who can contribute to the economic growth by maintaining or improving the environment and community value with partner universities in India and Australia. He explained that they had established a sub-major course at undergraduate and graduate levels and that they would be launching double degree programs with universities in India to raise talents to create the sustainable future society. He also mentioned that they would reflect the requests from Kanagawa region, where many headquarters of global companies and related private enterprises exist, to the project as well as collaborate among industry-government-university. He also commented that they are planning internship programs in India.

Prof. KOYAMA Hiroyuki, the Head of Glocalization Promotion Division at Gifu University, next gave a presentation about the joint degree program between Gifu University and IIT Guwahati. He explained that after preparing for five years, they could finally start the joint degree program for which they had conducted a MoU for. He mentioned that the Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences at Gifu University and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering in IIT Guwahati provide high-quality lectures in English associated with agriculture and engineering to students. He also mentioned that through industry-government-university collaborations, they would try to build the platform of joint degree programs which is less commonly implemented in Japan.

Prof. ASHIZAWA Shingo, Vice President of Kansai University of International Studies gave a presentation about their projects to create a venture ecosystem associated with Japanese industry, government body and universities as well as entrepreneur training organizations and the four countries of India, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. He explained that they advance the project with Kobe Design University, Miyazaki International College and the four countries already mentioned. He also mentioned that they would accept and send exchange students and provide students with long-term internship program from the next year.

Prof. NAGAI Yukari, Vice President of the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, moderated the overall discussion where all the speakers came together and discussed ideas of sending more students to and from Japan and India as well as more researchers to India.

Prof. BISWAS pointed out the importance of strengthening the partnership by furthering the various collaborations and involving other interested organizations in the Japan-India exchange. He added that joint research taking advantage of each other’s fields of strength would lead to the next cooperation such as joint degree or double degree programs.

Prof. SATISH KUMAR commented that it is important to provide Indian students with the opportunity of choosing Japan instead of European countries or the United States as their destination to study abroad as earliest as possible. He pointed out that the opportunities for students to work as researchers or employees in Japan should be made available.

Professor Emeritus SUZUKI pointed out that it is important to build a network hub connecting the specialized field at universities in Japan and India. He mentioned that it is difficult to see the cooperation that already exists between the many Japanese and Indian researchers. He commented that we should discover these inapparent cooperation and let the researchers become part of the hub allowing them to deepen the relationship between India and Japan, resulting in the hub bearing fruit.

Prof. KOYAMA mentioned that it is very important to meet Indian people. He commented that many Japanese companies are surprised at how outstanding the students of Indian Institute of Technology and Indian are and that the students are also surprised at the cultural differences between Japan and India, and that they are then able to take their experiences back to their home country. He told that Gifu University would like to maintain the opportunities of Japan-India exchange.

Prof. ASHIZAWA mentioned that they would have Indian researchers join the programs for venture ecosystems and create case studies and eco models for the Asia-Pacific region, as most are based on the English-speaking regions as well as Europe and North America, to nurture young entrepreneurs.