Similarity of Strategies
On September 10th a meeting between representatives of the HSE and Tohoku University, Japan, took place at the HSE. The aim of the visit was a preliminary discussion of the potential areas of cooperation between the two universities.
Tohoku University was represented by Yukihisa Kitamura, Executive Vice President, and Kudoh Jun-ichi, Professor at the Tohoku University Center for Northeast Asian Studies.
Tohoku University is one of the seven national universities of Japan, founded in 1907 in the city of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. According to its Vice President, Yukihisa Kitamura, the university is focused on practical developments in engineering, materials science and IT and aims to become a driving force in innovation development and the effective solution of national and regional problems.
The university sees its mission as the constant improvement of educational quality, potentialresearch and successful cooperation with leading universities and manufacturers around the world. Today, 11000 students study various undergraduate programme in 10 university departments and a further 7000 study on master’s programmes. The University includes a number of research centers, institutes and laboratories. The teaching staff of the university numbers around 6000. The university actively cooperates with prominent electronic companies and is specialized in practical developments. In 2007 it was one of the leaders among Japanese universities in the number of received patents. And in 2009 the University was fifth in the Japanese university league table, and 20thin the world in terms of engineering and technology.
The development plan of Tohoku University is focused on gaining all the characteristics of a world-class university and involves internationalization and revamping of all the areas of its activity. Incidentally, Tohoku University was the first university in Japan to open its doors to foreign students, and today some disciplines are taught in English.
Vadim Radaev, First Vice Rector of the HSE, spoke at the meeting on the development strategy and priorities of the HSE. It is obvious that the two universities, both developing dynamically and broadening their international educational and research cooperation, are interested in interaction, inter-university exchange programmes and joint projects.
Valentina Gruzintseva, HSE News Service
Photo by Sergey Krasko