JSPS President Attends Japan-France Symposium on Higher Education

On 5-6 October, the fourth Japan- France Symposium on Higher Education was held in Grenoble. JSPS president Prof. Motoyuki Ono traveled to France to participate in it as a speaker.

These symposia have been held alternately between Japan and France since 1998 for the purpose of reexamining higher education paradigms in each country with an eye to exploring new areas of inter-university cooperation between Japan and France. They are attended by university representatives of the two countries, with this year's symposium assembling some 50 university presidents; officials from Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), and from France's Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research (MENESR) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE); and representatives of research institutions. The symposium addressed four topics:
- Evaluation of tools already in place to promote exchanges of students and researchers between the two countries
- Internationalization of universities: towards stronger international linkages between universities
- University-industry cooperation
- Higher education and research initiatives in favor of developing countries: trilateral cooperation between the two countries and a third country

In the first session on evaluation of existing programs, Prof. Ono gave a presentation through which he described the state of the SAKURA Program, Frontiers of Science Symposia and other ongoing JSPS programs with France, and newly launched initiatives as well as previewing initiatives on JSPS's drawing board. Thereafter, discussions were advanced on each of these four topics. In the course of the discussions, JSPS's program was lauded for its success in promoting exchange between Japanese and French researchers, particularly younger researchers of the two countries.

The next symposium, to be held in Japan in 2008, will commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and France.

- Research Cooperation DivisionⅠ