U Tokyo Liberal Arts Program

Funded by donations from Zensho Holdings Co., Ltd., the Liberal Arts Program (LAP) of the Internationalization Office of the Komaba Organization for Educational Excellence established the “Zensho Todai Nanjing Liberal Arts Program.” This is an educational exchange program that actively promotes student exchange between the University of Tokyo and Nanjing University. Continuing with our previous projects of Nanjing University Intensive Lecture Series and Student Exchange as well as the One-Week-at-Todai Program, we will launch new Chinese Summer School in August, 2013.

Celebrating the full-fledged start of the new student exchange and the opening of “Center for Zensho Todai Nanjing Liberal Arts Exchange,” a large ceremony was held at Nanjing University on May 27th, 2013. Representing the benefactor Zensho Holdings Co., Ltd., Chairman and CEO Kentaro Ogawa, Head of the Zensho Central Food Research Institute Kinzo Iitani, Qingdao Representative Office Manager Ma Wenjun, as well as ZBC Production Division Chief Hideki Kondo attended the ceremony. Representing Nanjing University were President Chen Jun, President Assistant Pu Lijie, Vice Director of the Foreign Exchange Office Sun Wen, and from the University of Tokyo Vice President Masashi Haneda, Director of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Yojiro Ishii, President Office Adviser Kenichi Sugiyama, Professor Fumitoshi Karima, Public Relations Senior Director Hiromi Shimoda, as well as Assistant Professor Pei Chou-li attended the ceremony.

After President Chen Jun stated the significance of the exchange between the two schools and expressed gratitude toward Zensho Holdings Co., Ltd.,  President Assistant Pu Lijie introduced past student exchanges and expressed hope for the future. Vice President Haneda stated the importance of students from different countries receiving the same liberal arts education and of cultivating literacy that is required of “global citizens,” stressing the significance of the exchange program. Following those remarks, director of the Department Yojiro Ishii handed a letter of appreciation to Mr. Kentaro Ogawa. There was then the unveiling of the title plate “Center for Zensho Todai Nanjing Liberal Arts Educational Exchange (東京大学ZENSHO南京教養教育交流中心).” In Foreign Language School, where Chinese Summer School is to be held, a plate that reads “日本東京大学漢語培訓実習基地” was installed as well.

On the evening of the 27, Mr. Kentaro Ogawa gave a special lecture titled “Eradicating Hunger and Poverty from the World through a Corporation: Safe Food for the World” in Student Activity Hall, Xianlin Campus, Nanjing University. Roughly 130 students from Nanjing University attended the lecture, which was followed by a lively Q&A session, and the night was concluded with a large crowd of students seeking to take pictures with the speaker.

The “Zensho Todai Nanjing Liberal Arts Student Exchange Program” will aim toward cultivating individuals on whose shoulders the future of China and Japan can rest, building on the ten year partnership between the University of Tokyo and Nanjing University, making full use of the donations from Zensho Holdings Co., Ltd., and continuing with facilitating interactions among students from both countries.