SNU and HU Students mingled over a workshop on inclusive society

On the 15^th of January 2025, Hokkaido University (HU) received a delegation from its strategic international partner, Seoul National University (SNU), which comprised thirty-one undergraduate and two postgraduate students, Professor Jung Ming Park from the Department of Social Welfare and Professor Biung Ghi Ju from the Department of Economics.  This visit was a part of their short-term international programme ‘SNU in Japan’ and designed under the theme as social responses related to achieving an inclusive society and sustainable development.  SNU reached HU out to visit the HU’s COI-NEXT Hub to Co-create a Life Design for Mind and Body, which was budgeted by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Japan Science Technology Agency (JST) to form a platform on the Program on Open Innovation Platforms for Industry-academia Co-creation (COI-NEXT).

COI-NEXT Hub Deputy Director Yoshino

COI-NEXT Hub Director Tamakoshi

Prior to the workshop, the SNU in Japan participants went to learn about Higashikawa, a town in Kamikawa subprefecture, Hokkaido, which population grows by increasing immigration from all over the country in recent years.  Their visit to HU started from guided walk around the snow-covered Sapporo Agricultural College Farm No. 2, with Senior Academic Specialist Taena Uemura from the Office for International Collaborations, to see the traces of the foundation era of HU.  The workshop was opened by Specially Appointed Professor Masanori Yoshino, who introduced the COI-NEXT Hub overview as the Deputy Director. It was followed by Director and Professor Akiko Tamakoshi from the Faculty of Medicine who spoke about the states of domestic and international aging societies, human health and life design, and self-images of children in OECD countries. Reflecting the inputs, the SNU students worked on ‘Pre-conception Game’ and group discussion with HU participants: Takeo Hasegawa, Hyunsu Lee and Yoshiki Arai from the School and Graduate School of Engineering; Yui Okada from the School of Law; Pureunsan Park, a Japanese Language and Culture Studies Program student; Nanami Kono and Shiori Kira, Industry-academia Collaborating Researchers in the Social and Regional Emergence Department (S-RED).  Students shared their own experiences and moments when they had felt difficulties and isolation, discussed how an ideal inclusive society would be like, and talked differences and similarities of Japanese and Korean societies.  SNU Professor Park pointed out that the SNU in Japan programme usually had comprised presentations and talks by experts in Japan, however, the workshop this time rather focused on interactions of students and told HU that he could feel curiosity and joy elicited from direct communications with students in the two universities.

Student’s group work and presentations

Photos and text provided by S-RED and the Office for International Collaborations