GJO Established at International University for the Humanities and Development (Turkmenistan)

January 31, 2018

On Monday the 20 ^th of November, at International University for the Humanities and Development (IUHD) in Turkmenistan, a signing ceremony for the Memorandum of Understanding on Student Exchanges Between International University for the Humanities and Development and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and an opening ceremony for the Global Japan Office established at IUHD, were held. President Hirotaka Tateshi, Professor Sukero Ito (Vice President for International Affairs), and Professor Shizuo Shimada (Institute of Global Studies, Central Asian Area Studies) were in attendance from TUFS.

This memorandum was concluded following the Agreement for Academic Exchange and Cooperation between the two institutions signed in October 2016. The GJO at IUHD is the 11 ^th of its kind and was opened in September 2016, but since President Tateishi was to visit this year, the official opening ceremony was held to coincide with this.

At the signing/opening ceremony, IUHD's Rector Aydogdyyev and Vice Rector Begliyev were in attendance, and guests included Third Secretary Ichida and Researcher/Advisor Oku from the Embassy of Japan in Turkmenistan, and Japanese-language lecturers from The Japan Foundation and the Oguz Khan University of Engineering Technologies. Following a welcome address from IUHD's Rector and TUFS President Tateishi, TUFS Vice President Ito gave a presentation on Japanese-language education, which was then followed by a question-and-answer session by the students. Finally, the two ceremonies (the memorandum signing ceremony and the GJO opening ceremony) were held. Thanks to the signing of this memorandum, TUFS will be able to, at the earliest, accept exchange students from IUHD from next fall.

On the same day, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Embassy of Japan in Turkmenistan, President Tateishi and company were able to visit the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet (Deputy Prime Minister for Education and Science), Mr. Toiliyev, and the Minister of Education of Turkmenistan, Mr. Agamuradov, together with Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador Katsumata. During this meeting, as Mr. Toiliyev mentioned that he was looking forward to the increase of Japanese-language teachers and Japanese teaching materials to support the expansion of Japanese-language education in Turkmenistan, TUFS also expects the increase of academic exchanges and deepening of cooperative relations with IUHD.