A3I Short Program 2022
The A3I short program was held from 17 (Wed) to 30 (Tue) August 2022 in Room B1-222 at the Kofu Campus and streamed online.
This short program was a part of the ” Asia Applied Artificial Intelligence (A3I): Real Problem Solving Driven Artificial Intelligence Education Program”, adopted by the CAMPUS Asia Plus from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology – Japan), and aimed to promote cultural exchanges. Co-organised by four universities in the consortium – University of Yamanashi (Japan), Hangzhou Dianzi University (China), Pukyong National University (South Korea) and University Malaysia Perlis (Malaysia) – and conducted in English as the common language, and connecting the 4 countries online.
Each university provided its own distinctive program despite the online presence, including virtual campus tours, traditional and cuisine culture experiences, and cross-cultural discussions, which helped to participate students to enhance their intercultural competence and English communication skills. The University of Yamanashi session included lectures with hands-on experience by two groups of external lecturers, Ms Mika Awaji (5th Iemoto of Reido Koryu) and Ms Reina Kurosawa and Mr Takatoshi Furuya (Sawataya), providing a valuable opportunity for the participating students to experience Japanese culture.
On the final day, a student group presentation was held to show the results of the 10 days of activities and to express their resolution to make the most of what they have learnt in the course.
This year, the program was conducted jointly by the four universities online, but programs are planned to be hosted at each university, including actual visits from other universities and interactions with local students. The programme made a significant contribution to the promotion of international exchange among universities, with some students saying that they would like to visit the universities in which friends they met through the programme study and deepen their friendships by keeping in touch with them until they actually meet in person. Added to this, participants mentioned that they gained confidence in speaking with people from different cultural backgrounds and deepened their knowledge of their own and other countries’ cultures, which indicated that the programme had broad educational impacts supporting various aspects of learning.