President Meetings for Osaka University Partner Summit

Following the Vice President meetings held during November and December 2020, online meetings with presidents and other officials from partner universities which are participating in the Osaka University Partner Summit were held in February and March 2021.

President LIN Zhongqin from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, President and Vice-Chancellor Santa J. ONO and Vice Provost Murali CHANDRASHEKARAN from University of British Columbia, and Vice Provost and Dean Joanna REGULSKA from University of California, Davis participated in the meeting on February 3. In the meeting held on February 10, President Jouke DE VRIES and Mr. Mervin BAKKER, Director of International Strategy & Relations, from University of Groningen, along with President Banchong MAHAISAVARIYA and Vice President Nopraenue Sajjarax DHIRATHITI from Mahidol University participated. President and Provost Michael SPENCE AC and Vice-Provost Dame Hazel GENN from University College London joined President NISHIO in the following meeting held on March 11. Other officials and professors from each university also participated in the meetings.

In these meetings, President NISHIO Shojiro expressed his gratitude for partner universities’ participation in the Osaka University Partner Summit scheduled for 30 April as well as their support for all institutional collaboration so far. He continued by sharing the main aims of the summit before Executive Vice President KAWAHARA Genta further explained details and the current status of preparation of the summit.

During the discussion that followed, participants expressed favorable comments towards developing multi-lateral and multi-disciplinary collaboration to engage with the summit’s theme, The Role of Universities in Facing Societal Challenges and Recovering from COVID-19. They were also supportive of the idea of presenting the outcomes of the collaboration at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

Together with all participating universities, we are also finalizing the discussion regarding the contents of the Joint Statement, which will be released at the summit in April. These president meetings have been a great opportunity where the intention of further collaboration was shared with each partner institution prior to the Summit.