4th Six Japanese-German University Presidents' Conference (HeKKSaGOn University Consortium)

On April 16 and April 17, HeKKSaGOn University Consortium: The 4th German-Japanese University Presidents’ Conference was held at Tohoku University under the topic of “Building venues for the creation of new knowledge and values.”

At the presentation on the first day, President Toshio HIRANO spoke about the concept behind World Tekijuku, "creating harmonious diversity," while introducing approaches at Osaka University such as efforts in accepting international students, doubling the number of students who study abroad, increasing international joint labs under the project for promoting international joint research as well as facilitating the project of next-generation global university organization, "World Tekijuku."
On the morning of the second day, comprehensive discussions were conducted by presidents and vice presidents regarding collaboration in education and research within the consortium, promotion of human exchange, securing of financing for supporting these activities, and the role of public relations.
From Osaka University, in addition to President Hirano, Executive Vice Presidents Saburo AIMOTO and Yasuyuki OKAMURA, 15 faculty members and graduate students split into eight work groups to discuss pertinent topics in life science, energy, and social and natural sciences. In each group, they held discussions in order to promote collaboration among 6 universities from professional viewpoints. In the general meeting in the afternoon, following reports made by each group, a joint statement was signed by the six presidents.
Upcoming meetings will be held at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in the autumn of 2016 and at Osaka University in the spring of 2018.

President Hirano speaks at the Presidents Meeting	Member university presidents
Section meeting	A joint statement is signed