From 14 through 24 February, the Kyoto University Asian Studies Unit (KUASU) held a "2021 Kyoto Spring Program for ASEAN Students with KU Students", also called "Spring Program 2021". The online program was co-supported by the Wild & Wise Collaborative Learning Program (2017-2020), and organized in partnership with the Graduate School/Faculty of Letters and the Institute for Liberal and Arts and Sciences (ILAS).
Taking part were 19 short-term international students from five leading institutions across ASEAN — Chulalongkorn University, the University of Indonesia, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Languages and International Studies, a part of Vietnam National University, Hanoi — and from the University of California, San Diego. They were joined in collaborative learning by 41 KyotoU students, among whom were ten facilitators and three discussants from a wide range of faculties and two graduate schools.
The 60 participants* together attended lectures and took part in cultural and other activities, all organized around the topics of "Japanese language and culture" and "interdisciplinary and international collaborative learning". The lectures covered fields ranging from Japanese cultural traditions and history to entomology, pedagogy, gender studies, environmental issues, and primatology. Other activities included a virtual field trip to Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Co Ltd, and an exchange segment with KyotoU students involving discussions and group work on presentations, which were delivered on the final day.
The Spring Program successfully concluded with overwhelmingly positive feedback from the participants. The organizers noted from this success that the synergy that had developed over the years between KUASU's collaborative learning and Kyoto University's study-in-ASEAN programs had remained strong despite the pandemic, further contributing to the deepening of the bidirectional exchange partnership between the University and its ASEAN partners.
* This number excludes the participants in another Wild & Wise Program, run by ILAS during the same period, featuring these same lectures and activities.
