The JIGE International Forum was held at Kansai University Umeda Campus on January 23rd and 24th, 2025, marking the second year of the JIGE project. The forum brought together international speakers and workshop facilitators to share updates on ongoing initiatives, foster collaboration, and discuss strategies for addressing future challenges in higher education.

Day 1:

The forum began with opening remarks from Prof. Mitsuru Inada (Kansai University), Mr. Kuniaki Sato (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, MEXT), and Prof. Hiroaki Ozawa (Chiba University). Following these remarks, a Partner Spotlight Session was held, featuring five guest speakers from four JIGE-related institutions, who highlighted current projects and future initiatives. The speakers included Dr. Darla Deardorff (Duke University), Ms. Freya Chow-Paul and Ms. Linnéa Regnell (Asia-Europe Foundation, ASEF), Prof. Sachio Nakato (Ritsumeikan University), and Prof. Keiko Ikeda (Kansai University).

 

The afternoon sessions included three parallel workshops on current trends in higher education: “AI in Higher Education,” “International Education in the U.S.,” and “Japan-Virtual Campus and Micro-Credentials.”

 

Day 2:

The second day opened with remarks by Prof. Masahiro Yamaguchi (Tohoku University). This was followed by a panel discussion where key outcomes and lessons learned from the JIGE initiatives at Kansai University, Chiba University, and Tohoku University were shared and discussed.

 

After lunch, Dr. David Junsong Huang of Nanyang Technological University delivered a keynote speech, providing insights into innovative initiatives such as holistic education, life-deep learning, and life-wide/wise learning, among others.

 

To wrap up the two-day forum, parallel workshops on the “UNESCO Story Circles Workshop” and the “Kokusai-Kyoshu (Intercultural Collaborative Learning) Workshop” were held.

 

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the speakers and participants for their valuable insights and contributions, which played a key role in making the second Forum a great success.