Report on AEARU Student Summer Camp 2010

[Details of the Camp]
• Theme:“How Can Northeastern Asia Lead the World?”
• Venue: Pohang University of Science and Technology
• Date: August 16th 2010 – August 20th 2010
• Participating Universities: 15 Universities
• Number of Participants:53 Students/li>
• Objective
  To promote cultural exchange among students through various workshops, visits to historical sites, research facilities, and industrial plants, and to establish friendship and understanding over the course of the program.
• Content of the Event
  - Tour of Pohang City and World Heritage sites in Gyeongju
  - Culture Night (Bon-Odori Performance with Kyoto University)
  - Tour of Research Facilities at POSTECH (PAL, PIRO)
  - POSCO Tour
  

[Workshop]
• -Outline-
  Each team prepared and gave a 15-minute presentation on the theme “How Can Northeastern Asia Lead the World?” The Presentation Session was divided into three sessions, each with the following themes;
  
o Session 1: Facing the challenge of trust between Asian Countries
o Session 2: Going global beyond the invisible barrier
o Session 3: Sustaining the Globe in search of Asian Collaboration

Osaka University participated in session 2. Participants of different cultural backgrounds gave presentations on current issues Northeastern Asia faces today from their respective point of views, with the ultimate aim of deepening understanding and sharing common ideas among themselves. In addition, by discussing issues facing Northeastern Asia, participants nurtured a sense of unity and responsibility as future leaders of Asia.

• -Presentation by Osaka University-
  o Title: “Education, the Key to Leading Northeast Asia”
  o Presenter: Nobushige ITO
  o Contents of the Presentation
  
  In order for Northeastern Asia to become an international leader, it must first overcome invisible barriers created by factors pertaining to history, the economy, culture, and so on. In response to these problems, we focused our presentation on education and proposed the “Inter-University Remote Education Program”, a program with the potential of nurturing human resources capable of creating social capitol, which we feel is the key to overcoming these barriers. With the implementation of this program, lectures and seminars will be administered among AEARU universities via live video conferencing. By taking the same lectures and discussing in the same seminars, students will deepen their understanding of each other and strengthen their sense of unity as members of the Northeastern Asian community. The courses will be taught in English, allowing students the opportunity to improve their English skills. We firmly believe that with the implementation of this program, a stronger sense of trust will be established in the Northeast Asian region, and social capital capable of competing and leading the international community will be created. The day will come when Northeastern Asia will overcome various invisible barriers and be tasked with challenges in leading the world.


• Feedback from Participants
  Many students and Professors identified education as the cornerstone for continued and sustainable development in the Northeastern Asian region. After our presentation, we were highly praised by one of the participating professors, urging us to continue to pursue our proposal. Other groups and delegates used our proposal as an example of cooperation between countries in the field of education during session 3 and discussions that took place on the following day. Throughout the rest of the event, delegates individually approached us and praised the materials we prepared and distributed to them before the presentation. Concerns we raised regarding the implementation of the program, as many of the universities have different academic calendars. We admitted that implementing a program such as the one we were proposing would be difficult but not impossible, and the benefits gained would be worth the effort.
• Areas Requiring Further Consideration
  ① Further consideration regarding the differences in the academic calendars of the member universities.
  ② Courses offered through the program will need detailed descriptions, as course names may have different meanings (course content) at different universities.
• -Topics Presented by Other Teams
  o “RICE” Changes the World (University of Tsukuba)
  o Building blocks for Asia: Trust and shared perspectives as a foundation of our future (University of Tokyo)
  o Yellow sand without boards (Tohoku University)
  o Asian collaboration for sustaining the globe, learn from 2010 Shanghai EXPO (Fudan University)
  o In Culture We Trust Cultural Identification – The essence of trust between Northeastern Asia Countries (Peking University)