Kumamoto University Delegation Visits De La Salle University in the Philippines
Founded in 1911 as a Catholic university, De La Salle University in Manila, Luzon Island, is one of the leading private universities in the country. There are roughly 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in its 8 colleges and schools. It provides education under the philosophy of peace and harmony based on Christianity. This internationally-minded university has many partner universities around the world, and actively promotes exchanges between researchers from various countries, not to mention exchanges between students. In the QS Top University Subject Rankings 2013, De La Salle University’s English language and literature education was acclaimed as being among the world’s top 100, which is the highest level of education standards in the country.
Kumamoto University’s Faculty of Engineering and the Graduate School of Science and Technology concluded a department-level exchange agreement with De La Salle’s College of Engineering in 2011. Since then, the two universities have deepened exchanges mainly in the area of engineering.
From Kumamoto University, Professor Tetsuya Kida and Assistant Professor Armando T. Quitain of the Department of Applied Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Engineering, and officials from International Affairs Division paid a courtesy call on Dr. Alvin Culaba, Executive Director for External Relations and Internationalization. After listening to an introduction of De La Salle University, the delegation members delivered a presentation including an overview, research achievements, international programs at Kumamoto University, and the activities of the ASEAN University Network through the Six Universities Network/International Education & Research System, Japan (SUN/SixERS). Following this, the delegation members exchanged views with Dr. Rosemary Seva, Dean of the College of Engineering, and other people in the college about the possibility of upgrading the relationship to a university-level exchange, and of introducing a credit transfer program to the area of applied chemistry and biochemistry. In 2016, it will be five years since the department-level exchange agreement was concluded, and the delegation members felt it was time to make deeper ties. The two universities agreed to continuously develop their successful relationship.
Following this opening, it is expected that student and academic exchanges will be further promoted between Kumamoto University and De La Salle University and other institutions of higher education in the Philippines as well.