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President Toshio Hirano attends the 3rd HeKKSaGOn University Consortium Conference
2013.10.16 Wed
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President Toshio Hirano attends the 3rd HeKKSaGOn University Consortium Conference

The 3rd Presidents Conference of the HeKKSaGOn University Consortium was held at University of Göttingen in Germany on September 12 and 13. From Osaka University, President Toshio HIRANO and trustee Yasuyuki OKAMURA attended.

The HeKKSaGOn University Consortium is a group of six prestigious universities: from Japan, Osaka University , Kyoto University , and Tohoku University , and, from Germany, Heidelberg University , The University of Göttingen , and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The first Japanese-German University Presidents Conference was held in July 2010 and the second one in Kyoto in March 2012.
The theme of the third conference in Göttingen, Germany was " Challenges and Perspectives in Promoting Young Researchers ." On the first day, the conference began with greetings from Ulrike Beisiegel, President, University of Göttingen. The greetings were followed by speeches by MATSUMOTO Hiroshi, President, Kyoto University, NAKANE Takeshi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Federal Republic of Germany, Stefan Jungeblodt, Manager, Higher Education Department, the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, Helmi Behbehani, Mayor of the City of Göttingen, and KODAIRA Keiichi, Director, Bonn Office, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Following their speeches,  Stefan Treue, Professor, University of Göttingen delivered the keynote speech. His address was followed by presentations by administrators of the six universities. President Hirano talked about Osaka University's Institute for Academic Initiatives and the cultivation of young researchers.

In the morning of the second day, comprehensive discussions were conducted by presidents and vice presidents regarding the direction of HeKKSaGOn, new research projects, student exchange and support for it, lobbying for funds, gaining recognition, launching a website, and more.
In parallel to these discussions,  researchers split into eight work groups to discuss pertinent topics in life science, energy, social and natural science. In the general meeting in the afternoon, reports were made by each group and president concerning the morning meetings.
After confirming that the next conference would be held at Tohoku University in the spring of 2015 and the two following that by  Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Osaka University respectively, a joint statement was signed by the six presidents.


President Hirano

Presidents and Ambassador Nakane (2nd from the right in the front row)

President Hirano at the welcome reception

Presidents' meeting

Research report

Closing remarks


Signing ceremony

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