On November 26, 2013, Josai International University awarded president of sister school Malaysia’s Management and Science University (MSU), Professor Dato’ Wira Dr. Mohd Shukri Ab. Yajid, with an honorary doctoral degree on Josai’s Tokyo Kiocho Campus.

Since the founding of MSU (formerly known as Kolej Universiti Teknologi Pengurusan Malaysia (KUTPM)) and the PTPL Group of Colleges in 2001, President Shukri has worked tirelessly for the development and expansion of these institutions of which he serves as head, while also earning numerous achievements in the advancement of cultural and academic exchange and international education, working as one of Malaysia’s foremost leaders in the development of higher education.
　 Since the formation of their academic exchange agreement in January 2010, Josai and MSU have been actively involved in a number of collaborative activities in the area of pharmaceutical science, such as short-term and semester long exchange programs.
　 On November 25 and 26, Josai hosted for the first time the 4th Asia Pacific Pharmacy Education Workshop, a conference that discusses methods of harmonizing pharmaceutical science education across different countries in the areas of graduate education, systems of study evaluation, clinical teaching, and graduate research. This workshop assembled professionals from a diverse range of cultural, religious, medical, and scientific backgrounds to provide a meaningful discussion regarding where the spirit of the pharmacist should lie.
　 There are also several new collaborative programs in the works that should expand academic exchange between the two universities even further, including a JIU short-term English learning program at MSU next spring and the opening of a 2+2 joint education program for the Faculty of Tourism.
　 It is for these numerous achievements in Malaysian higher education and contributions to academic exchange between MSU and Josai that President Shukri was awarded the honorary doctoral degree.

In the ceremony that took place in the basement auditorium, Chancellor Noriko Mizuta and JIU President Hakuo Yanagisawa awarded President Shukri with the honorary doctoral degree, medal, and trophy.

To commemorate this honor, President Shukri delivered a special lecture following the ceremony. Titled “Globalisation & Its Impact on Higher Education,” his lecture constituted an important discussion of approaches to higher education and academic exchange in an age when economics, technology, education and other fields are becoming increasingly global, if not borderless.