12th Annual IARU Presidents’ Meeting
Date of activity: March 27, 2017 - March 28, 2017
The 12th Annual IARU Presidents’ Meeting (International Alliance of Research Universities) was held on March 27 and 28 at the Australian National University. The University of Tokyo was represented by President Makoto Gonokami and Professor Kiichi Fujiwara (Graduate Schools for Law and Politics).
Member universities shared information on domestic and international issues impacting them as well as their internal policies. In particular, what kind of actions each university should take regarding large changes that take place in society such as Brexit and the new Trump administration was passionately discussed.
Concerning the activities at UTokyo, President Gonokami reported on the establishment of UTSSI, the University of Tokyo Sports Science Initiative, which raised strong interest among the member universities.
UTokyo actively participates in various activities organized by IARU such as student exchange activities in the form of summer schools and internships; research collaborations on campus sustainability, the fields of aging as well as Women and Men in Globalizing Universities; and networking activities for alumni associations as well as librarians. The current progress of each activity was reported during the Presidents’ Meeting and their future directions were deliberated.
IARU (International Alliance of Research Universities), established in 2006, is a collaboration between ten of the world's leading research-intensive universities who share similar visions for higher education, in particular the education of future leaders.
Presidents of the attending universities 
Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Double Degree between ANU’s Crawford School and UTokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) 
President Gonokami reporting during the meeting
