On September 13, a Josai University Educational Corporation delegation led by Chancellor Noriko Mizuta visited China Medical University in Shenyang where they met with university president Zhao Qun.

After meeting with Party Secretary Dai Wanjin during a visit in October 2011, Josai and China Medical University formed an academic exchange agreement in December of the same year. The two schools have since been in discussion to develop joint education programs that cultivate highly skilled human resources in medical welfare, environmental science, nursing, pharmacy, and linguistics, as well as an overseas training program for Josai International University’s Faculty of Nursing.

This latest meeting was attended by President Zhao, as well as Director of International Exchange, Pan Bochen, and Vice Chairman for the Japanese Language Institute, Wang He.
　 At the meeting, Chancellor Mizuta remarked that, “In light of the continuation of decreased birthrates and a rapidly aging population in Japan and China, our hope is to deepen Japan-China alliance to develop treatment, care giving, and welfare programs that address this issue.” President Zhao registered his agreement by adding, “Our plan is to strengthen academic exchange between our two universities in the interest of fostering medical professionals who are deeply rooted in both the national and local communities.”
　 To this point, students in Josai International University’s Faculty of Nursing have performed their training in the United States during their first year. However, there was working-level talk of moving this program to China Medical University. There was also talk of faculty appointment and joint research programs in Japanese language education and Japanese literature, with representatives from the two schools agreeing to continue to develop these projects.

After their meeting, the Josai delegation took in China Medical University’s historical exhibition room with it’s numerous photographs and other historical materials and visited the buildings that housed the South Manchuria Medical College, the precursor to China Medical University. Kanae Iida, a member of the Josai delegation and director of JIU’s Faculty of Nursing, also held an interview with CMU’s nursing director to discuss their hosting of the training program and later toured the facilities of the university affiliated hospital, the largest general hospital in Northeast China.

With this most recent visit and agreement, one can expect many great programs to come out of the Japan-China partnership, ones that are aimed at the development of human resources in the medical, nursing, and welfare fields, in addition to Japanese language education.