On 11 March 2022, Kyoto University and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) held the inaugural Joint Steering Committee and Japan-Africa University Education Exchange Meeting online as part of the “Innovative Africa: Educational Networking Programs for Human Resource Development in Africa’s SDGs”, or IAfP, which the two universities have jointly hosted since 2020 with support from the education and science ministry (MEXT).
At the Joint Steering Committee, which began at 16:00 with the participation of eight African partner universities of both institutions, KyotoU and TUFS representatives reported on the implementation status of IAfP and outlined the study-in-Japan opportunities to be offered to African students under this project.
The Japan-Africa University Education Exchange Meeting followed at 16:30 with 79 participating from 26 universities — 15 in Japan and 11 in Africa — and 5 other organizations.
The session opened with remarks from Dr Takao Hirajima, Kyoto University’s executive vice-president for education, information infrastructure, and library services, who emphasized the significance of the meeting as a forum for advancing cooperation and network building at various levels of education between Japan and Africa. This was followed by greetings from the ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to Japan and a MEXT official.
Afterwards, representatives from Ashinaga Foundation and Toyota Tsusho Co Ltd introduced their respective scholarship programs, and Hokkaido University staff discussed the institution’s Study-in-Japan Global Network Project (Sub-Saharan Africa). A speaker from TUFS then reported on the status of academic exchange between Japanese and African universities, focusing on the activities of the Japan-Africa Academic Network (JAAN). The session also included presentations from the African side, with officials from Addis Ababa University and Stellenbosch University introducing their institutions.
