Tokyo, Kyoto, Waseda and Keio universities reached a student exchange agreement Tuesday to enable graduate students of one of the universities to study at the other three universities earn credits and diplomas.
The agreement is designed to provide students with more high-level research opportunities in various fields as well as attract able students to improve the universities' international competitiveness.
Graduate school research courses at the universities will hold talks to find common ground with student exchanges set to start next April, and will cover any courses that have managed to reach agreements.
In its second report released in June, the government's Education Rebuilding Council proposed reforms for graduate schools that included limiting the rate of students who attend graduate school at the same institution where they did their undergraduate studies to 30 percent.
Tokyo University President Hiroshi Komiyama, who is a member of the council, said Tuesday that he had proposed the alliance to the three other universities.
"The Education Rebuilding Council has proposed forcing students to attend other universities, but unless students have a desire to go, such programs won't work," he said, stressing the need for universities to take the initiative.
Under the four-university plan, each graduate school will accept students--of graduate as well as doctoral level--from the other universities for six months to a year.
While a doctorate is conferred by the university to which a student belongs, professors at the university where students temporarily study will be allowed to participate in evaluating student theses.
No new tuition charges will be applied for the system.
A similar agreement has been reached between Osaka University and Kansai University.
Some departments of graduate schools at Chiba University, Okayama University, Niigata University, Kanazawa University, Kumamoto University and Nagasaki University also have agreed to exchange credits.
(Dec. 27, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071227TDY02310.htm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment