Ateneo De Manila University, a sister institution of Josai International University, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of its founding, staged Presidents’ Forum 2009 on January 23-24 with the overall theme: “Universities at the Frontiers of Change.” Chancellor Noriko Mizuta received an invitation. Attending the event as her representative were Mr. Katsuhiko Namikawa (Director of Planning of Josai Educational Corporation) and Professor Amadio Arboleda of Josai International University.

They handed written greetings from Chancellor Mizuta to Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres S.J., the president of Ateneo De Manila University and expressed their thanks for the friendly relations up to now, the further development of exchanges in the future and the possibility of cooperation between the two institutions in new fields. President Nebres in turn expressed his wish to positively investigate such possibilities.

On the first day of the Presidents’ Forum there were presentations from the following four universities: Ateneo De Manila University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kyushu University, Lille Catholic University (France). As for Josai International University, our activities were introduced in the form of an addition to Hong Kong Baptist University’s presentation on Inter-University Cooperation, there was a report on JIU’s recent overseas ties in addition to an introduction to joint projects with Sun Yat-sen University, which was also represented at the forum, standardization of procedures for obtaining degrees in English, collaborations with industry, etc.

The second day of the forum began with a keynote speech by the president of Georgetown University, followed by participation in the session on “the Economic Crisis and University Management” among the discussions in Parallel Symposia. Representatives at JIU gave a presentation on the present situation in Japan and sophistication of university management. The president of Georgetown University participated in this session and gave a presentation on the situation in the U.S. It was evident that the extent of the impact of the economic crisis had evoked major interest among all universities.

The Forum featured attendance by the management (presidents, vice-presidents, etc.) of 30 universities around the world, as well as 21 universities in the Philippines. In addition to Josai International University, Japanese universities participating in the program included Kyushu University, Osaka University, Nanzan University, Sophia University, etc. Throughout the entire forum program, there were very active and positive exchanges about the engagement of each university in response to globalization and about various forms of cooperation.