Completion Ceremony for SCTI 2009 Program (April – June, 2009) Held

June 18, 2009

The completion ceremony for the Stanford Center for Technology and Innovation (SCTI) 2009 program (April – June, 2009) was held at Meitokukan on the Imadegawa Campus of Doshisha University.

Andrew Horvat, Director of the Stanford Japan Center, delivered a speech, which was followed by a guest lecture by Joseph Caron, the former Ambassador of Canada to Japan and present Ambassador of Canada to India. Mr. Caron spoke about his rich diplomat experiences, capturing the students' attention and stimulating a lively Q and A session.

The guest lecture was followed by a certificate award ceremony, at which certificates were presented by instructors to students who had completed the program, including Kyoto University's auditing students.

The ceremony was followed by a party at which SCTI students and Japanese auditing students enjoyed friendly interactions.

Kyoto University auditing student receiving a certificate

SCTI students and auditing students

What is SCTI?

SCTI was established in 1990 as a program for U.S. Stanford students to study in Japan. This program seeks to develop young U.S. students with the expertise and qualities necessary to promote relationships with Japan. The program annually enrolls some 35 Stanford students. Although the program accepts students with a wide variety of majors, such as engineering, natural sciences, economics, politics and international relations, it mainly attracts technical students. The focus is on Japanese language education, with program participants required to take a Japanese language course at Stanford before visiting Japan and to take a weekly eight-hour Japanese language course after visiting Japan.

Lectures, which are also available to Kyoto University's auditing students, are held at the Stanford Center for Technology and Innovation on the Imadegawa Campus of Doshisha University. Previous lectures have had the following themes:
Japanese innovation, political economics, Japanese diplomacy, Japanese religions, Kyoto architecture and its history.

The SCTI program is offered from April to June (application: February). Program admission instructions and application form are posted during an application period on the "International Education" page of the Kyoto University website. These documents will also be available at Kyoto University’s Foreign Student Division.