On September 16th, 2009, Chancellor MIZUTA Noriko, serving as director of the Asia region, was invited to give two keynote addresses in participation with the fourth World Women University President’s Forum by the Communication University of China, Nanjing College, the host of the event.

In the morning session, the opening ceremony was held in Nanjing College’s One Thousand People Hall, celebrating the fifth year of Nanjing College’s foundation. At this opening ceremony, Chancellor Mizuta gave her address before more than a thousand audience members of Chinese university administrators, senior officials of the Chinese Government, representatives of UNESCO, forty-four university presidents from all around the world, and many from the press. The Chancellor’s speech, “The Task of Women’s Higher Education in the Aging Society,” which addresses one of the most pressing issues in Asia, was delivered in English; the speech detailed in the problems, discussed how these can be resolved, and described the efforts made by Josai to tackle them, particularly emphasizing how research conducted at Josai have been put into practices. The speech received a very favorable response; the audience members showed their deep interest in the speech, commenting that the Chancellor offered a very enlightening opinion regarding the issue at hand. In fact, many of the participants asked for the manuscript of the Chancellor’s speech.

In the afternoon, during the panel discussion on “University Administration and Environmental Problems,” Chancellor MIZUTA delivered an English keynote address entitled, “Contending with University Management and Environmental Problems in Response to the Changing Times: for the Attainment of the University’s Social Responsibility.” The Chancellor highlighted that contending with environmental problems is an imperative task faced not only by Chinese universities but also all the universities across the globe. She also discussed how this matter should be tackled in relation to the public welfare. Here too, Chancellor MIZUTA as a representative of Japan garnered tremendous attention for addressing these pressing subjects.

The Chancellor’s visit to the Communication University of China, Nanjing College, this time surely enhanced the friendly relationship between the two institutions as the Chancellor had opportunities to closely interact with President Liu Jinan, the school administrators, and students. The exchanges in the area of research projects between the two institutions will be further developed as well.