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ShareAhmedabad: When a three-member delegation from Japan's Otemon Gakuin University (OGU) said 'konnichiwa' (hello) to its friend of 40 years on Sunday morning, the joy on the face of top Gujarat University officials knew no bounds. The Japanese university had, 40 years ago, signed an MoU with GU for students exchange programme, and now, it is exploring the possibilities of having tie-ups for a few more programmes.
The OGU delegates told GU vice-chancellor Parimal Trivedi and other officials that they are looking forward to starting student exchange programmes in a better way so that more students from both the sides could get opportunities to know different civilisations.
"We are quite impressed with Gujarat University. In terms of departments, number of students, affiliated colleges and staff, GU is far ahead of us. There is a huge scope for learning,'' said Takahiro Fukushima, director, centre for international studies at OGU.
According to Trivedi, in coming years, both the varsities will be expanding students exchange programmes and initiating even exchange programmes for faculties. "Apart from this, there is a likelihood of setting up Japan Research Centre at GU and start some joint research programmes,'' he said.
OGU is a private university in Japan with around 700 students. According to Takahiro, most of the varsities these days are facing problems in terms of getting students back in their country.
"This is a national phenomena in Japan. The number of young population is dwindling rapidly. This is creating a huge crisis before all the educational institutes. The other problem is that Japanese students are not willing to study abroad unlike students from India and other countries," said Takahiro.
The two other members in the delegation were Hiroshi Kita, manager, centre for international studies at OGU, and Arun Chudgar, an interpreter.
