On November 8, during the Josai delegation’s visit to Hungary, Chancellor Noriko Mizuta was named Professor Honoris Causa from Budapest Business School.

Budapest Business School and Josai have enjoyed an active partnership, including student and research exchange programs, since the signing of their academic exchange agreement in January 2007. This honorary degree was awarded to Chancellor Mizuta to acknowledge her many accomplishments in this area. The Professor Honoris Causa is in fact the highest honor issued by Budapest Business School, having only been bestowed upon three distinguished individuals until this point.

The award ceremony that was conducted as part of the school’s Annual Science Conference was officiated by university Rector Éva Sándor-Kriszt who presented Chancellor Mizuta with her honorary degree as well as a trophy with many BBS faculty in attendance to witness the honor.
    After receiving her award, Chancellor Mizuta opened a lecture to commemorate the occasion, entitled, “Women’s Changing Role in 21st Century Global Society,” drawing participation from students and faculty from both universities.
    With this award, Chancellor Mizuta has now had the distinct honor of receiving five honorary degrees in all, with the others coming from South China Normal University, Korea’s Dongseo University, Szent István University in Hungary, and Northeastern University in China.

Following the ceremony, the Josai delegation was treated to a presentation on the accomplishments of BBS’s Japanese language education program. They then proceeded to downtown Budapest where they met with Josai students currently studying in Hungary, as well as Hungarian students planning to study abroad at Josai next year. The students took turns explaining to the group, in Japanese, the various tourist sites located along the Danube river.
    This year, Josai opened the “Japan in the World” program with the goal of understanding Japan within the world and developing individual leaders who can participate in a global society. One part of this program—that of a joint program with Budapest Business School—is in development. The Josai delegation thus held a meeting with former Hungarian ambassador Sűdy Zoltán and his wife to discuss development and implementation of this program.

Later that night the delegation had a dinner reception downtown with Ambassador Tadamichi Yamamoto and other members of the Japanese Embasssy of Hungary, discussing the state of academic exchange with Hungary and sharing opinions as to how to improve it even further.

The following day (11/9), the delegation was given a guided tour of Ferenc Hopp Museum of East Asian Arts. Ferenc Hopp is known as the largest museum of East Asian art in Hungary and will be one of two museums hosting seminars on Hungarian culture as part of the upcoming “Japan in the World” program.