Delegates from National Chung Hsing University Visit Kyoto University

On 17–18 December 2019, Dr. Chang-Hsien Yang, Vice President of National Chung Hsing University (NCHU); Dr. Fuh-Jyh Jan, Dean of NCHU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and five others paid a visit to Kyoto University (KU). Their activities included a meeting with Dr. Kayo Inaba, Executive Vice President and Prof. Yasuyuki Kono, Vice President, and a seminar at the Graduate School of Agriculture (GSA).

In 2017, NCHU’s six departments including the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and KU’s five departments including GSA concluded a department-level MoU and both universities have since been maintaining academic contacts through collaborative research and seminars.

On the first day, a NCHU delegation was welcomed by EVP Inaba and VP Kono in the university’s headquarters along with other eight representatives from GSA and other institutes. Those present were Prof. Akira Murakami, Dean of GSA (Agricultural Facilities Engineering); Prof. Motoki Akitsu (Philosophy of Agricultural Science), Prof. Motoaki Doi (Vegetable and Ornamental Horticulture), Prof. Ryutaro Tao (Pomology) from GSA; Prof. Takashi Watanabe, Director of the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH); Prof. Manabu Hashimoto, Director of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI); Prof. Yoko Hayami, Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS); and Dr. Yang Chin-Cheng, Junior Associate Professor from RISH.

At the meeting, Vice President Yang expressed his willingness to upgrade the current department-level MoU between the two universities to a university-level MoU and to further strengthen the collaboration including student exchange based on research collaborations that have been conducted at the department-level until now. KU participants extended their gratitude to NCHU delegates for the invitation to NCHU’s Centennial Celebration held in September, 2019. (Our headquarters’ article is also available.)

On the next day, Vice President Yang gave a lecture themed “Functional Analysis of Genes in Regulating Perianth Identity and Development in Orchids” in a special seminar hosted by GSA. After the seminar, professors of both universities exchanged their views on collaborations between the two universities and discussed the possibility of collaborative research in the future over a casual lunch.

NCHU representatives’ visit provided us with an opportunity to discuss the further development of collaboration between NCHU and KU. The advancement of partnership is highly anticipated.