On September 30, 2013, Josai hosted the award ceremony for this year’s Noriko Mizuta Hungary, Poland, Czech Scholarship at the Tokyo Kioicho Campus.
　 The Noriko Mizuta Hungary Scholarship was established to commemorate the visit of Hungarian President Sólyom László to Tokyo Kioicho Campus in December 2009. With the goal of serving as a bridge between Japan and Hungary through the development of human resources, this scholarship funds the tuition of outstanding Hungarian exchange students to Josai.
　 As part of Josai’s Mid-term Target of strengthening international exchange to cultivate global human resources, our universities have formed academic exchange agreements with a number of institutions worldwide, with a particular emphasis on universities in the V4 and other parts of Central Europe. This year’s scholarship, now in its 4th year, also awarded students from Poland and the Czech Republic who will be studying at Josai or Josai International University, thus extending the scholarship to include students from three countries.

This year’s scholarship recipients consist of 15 students from Budapest Business School, Corvinus University of Budapest, Szent István University, Eötvös Loránd University, the College of Nyíregyháza, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, the University of Szeged, and the University of Debrecen in Hungary who will be studying at either JU or JIU; 13 students from the University of Warsaw, the University of Lodz, the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology in Poland who will be studying at either JU or JIU; and two students from Charles University in Prague and Masaryk University in the Czech Republic who will be studying at JIU―30 students in all.
　 At the ceremony, after presenting award certificates to each scholarship student, Chancellor Mizuta named two ambassadors from each country for the student friendship association, presenting each student with a sash. Much will be expected from these six ambassadors in building cultural exchange between Japan and their home countries.

The ceremony continued with three spokespeople (Fehér István from Hungary, Czubek Jowita Agnieszka from Poland, and Rezazgui David from the Czech Republic) from this year’s scholarship class giving words of thanks and their personal pledges for the forthcoming scholarship year. The students first thanked Chancellor Mizuta and the other foundation members for providing a scholarship that will allow them to fully dedicate themselves to their studies. They pledged to use this scholarship year to study traditional Japanese culture, economics, and society and to work to facilitate mutual cultural understanding between Japan and their home countries.

The ceremony concluded with Chancellor Mizuta providing words of encouragement to the students. She said, “To become global professionals, please do your best to actively study the culture, history, and arts of countries other than your own. I strongly believe that the precious experience you will have studying here in Japan will positively contribute to the development of your future career. I also hope that your presence will provide a good stimulus to the Japanese students at our universities.”
　 Since 2008, nearly 2,000 students at Josai and Josai International University have studied Hungarian. With the addition of language courses in Polish and Czech beginning April, 2013, Josai will become an even richer place for global education.

2013 Scholarship Recipients

Josai University, 10 students
1.Hungary

Name, Faculty	Home Institution
Fehér István, Faculty of Contemporary Policy	Eötvös Loránd University
Zugor Valentina, Faculty of Contemporary Policy	Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary
Magony Tímea, Faculty of Contemporary Policy	University of Szeged
László Zsanett Mónika, Faculty of Contemporary Policy	Szent István University
Kormos Róbert, Faculty of Business Administration	Corvinus University of Budapest
Szabó Károly, Faculty of Business Administration	University of Debrecen
Bárány Beáta, Faculty of Business Administration	Budapest Business School
Horváthy Dániel, Faculty of Business Administration	Budapest Business School

2．Poland

Name, Faculty	Home Institution
Koska Natalia, Faculty of Business Administration	University of Warsaw
Zyśk Emilia, Faculty of Business Administration	University of Warsaw

Josai International University, 20 students
1.Hungary

Name, Faculty	Home Institution
Tóth Lajos Szablcs, Faculty of Tourism	Budapest Business School
Ábrahám Lili, Faculty of Tourism	Corvinus University of Budapest
Berta Zsófia, Faculty of International Humanities	Eötvös Loránd University
Fodor Attila, Faculty of Media Studies	Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary
Mucsányi Nikoletta, Faculty of Tourism	Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary
Ujlakán Vanessza, Faculty of Tourism	Szent István University
Mile Dóra, Faculty of Tourism	College of Nyíregyháza

2．Poland

Name, Faculty	Home Institution
Widera Emilia, Faculty of International Humanities	University of Lodz
Lipińska Joanna, Faculty of International Humanities	Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology
Czubek Jowita Agnieszka, Faculty of International Humanities	University of Warsaw
Lewandowski Piotr, Faculty of Social and Environmental Studies	University of Warsaw
Miśkiewicz Katarzyna, Faculty of International Humanities	University of Lodz
Neumann Natalia Marianna, Faculty of International Humanities	University of Lodz
Juszczak Adam, Faculty of Management and Information Sciences	University of Lodz
Ciszewska Alicja, Faculty of International Humanities	University of Warsaw
Jóźwiak Anna, Faculty of International Humanities	Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology
Kaczmarek Tomasz, Faculty of International Humanities	University of Lodz
Szaga Adam, Faculty of International Humanities	University of Warsaw

3.Czech Republic

Name, Faculty	Home Institution
Rezazgui David, Faculty of International Humanities	Charles University in Prague
Čoupková Eliška, Faculty of International Humanities	Masaryk University

In addition, on September 26, the thirteen Polish recipients of the Mizuta Scholarship, along with a Josai delegation led by Chancellor Mizuta, visited the Polish Embassy in Japan to meet Ambassador Cyryl Kozaczewski.
　 The ambassador warmly greeted the first time exchange students, giving them words of encouragement by saying, “The possibilities for your future are infinite. Please make the most of this valuable opportunity at Josai to study and experience many things and in turn use this experience to not only serve as a mediator between Poland and Japan, but to become a skilled professional who can contribute at a global level.”
　 The scholarship students then gave self-introductions one-by-one in fluent Japanese, expressing their personal goals for the year abroad. Ambassador Kozaczewski also indicated that he has great expectations for the growth of these students during their scholarship year.