The first Faculty Development seminar in English (FDE) was held in the Ito Guest House, Ito campus, Kyushu University on January 23. This FDE’s topic was “Setting Up International Collaborations” and over 30 university members attended; even President Kubo was present to show his support.
This series of FDs was planned and organized by the SHARE-Q International Advisory Group (SIAG), including Assoc. Prof. Van Goethem (Faculty of Humanities), who chaired the program. Assoc. Prof. Robertson (Faculty of Engineering and another SIAG member) welcomed the attendees and explained the purpose of the FDEs in the opening remarks. Next, Prof. Suzuki (Faculty of Languages and Cultures), Assoc. Prof. Oga (Faculty of Law), and Prof. Watanabe (Faculty of Engineering/Vice President) gave brief presentations on their experience with international collaboration. During the subsequent panel discussion, Prof. Ogata (Institute of Tropical Agriculture/Senior Vice President) and AiRIMaQ sub-leader Dr. Harold Kusters joined the presenters and the organizers to offer their expertise on the topic. Making the closing comments, Prof. Ogata announced that SIAG would run a series of FDEs for sharing information and building networks between international and Japanese faculty members.
The 2nd FDE is scheduled for April.