Tohoku University kickoff symposium for Multicultural Campus Project Toward Social Impact

On March 11, 2025, Tohoku University held a hybrid in-person (in Sendai) and online kickoff symposium commemorating its adoption of Multicultural Campus Project Toward Social Impact.
Interest in this project was high with a total of 371 attendees, 101 in-person and 270 online, registering in advance for the symposium.

Because the symposium took place on the 14th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, a moment of silence for the victims was observed before the opening ceremony and Tohoku University shared its pledge to rebuild and revitalize the area with all the attendees.

To open the symposium, President Tominaga Teiji expressed condolences to the disaster survivors, and spoke about our intent to utilize co-creative Intercultural Collaborative Learning (ICL) through this program to build relationships with various stakeholders involved in reconstruction.

MEXT Counselor Satō Kuniaki praised Tohoku University's achievements while expressing the expectation that this project further promote internationalization.

For the keynote of the first half of the symposium, Prof. Sugimura Miki from Sophia University gave a lecture titled "Sustainable Multicultural Communities and the Role Higher Education." It included a mention of the "internal internationalization" being pursued by Tohoku University and many helpful suggestions in the form of important observations on the program's implementation.

In the second half of the symposium, Vice President Yamaguchi Masahiro (lead planner) gave an overview of the program, then led a panel discussion on the theme of "the potential of co-creative ICL on global leader development and forms of industrial/academic/governmental and community cooperation for social impact." The panelists, who included Ebina Takeo (director the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Tohoku Center) representing research and development organizations, and Sugita Takeshi (director of the Sendai Economic Bureau) representing the local municipality, actively discussed various past and future activities with Tohoku University.

Lastly, Executive Vice President Ueki Toshiya gave a final speech, ending the productive symposium.

Going forward, Tohoku University, together with numerous stakeholders in the community, will work to accelerate university internationalization and make a social impact through co-creative ICL.