TUFS Holds Short-Term JEP with Royal University of Phnom Penh

February 22, 2018

Six students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh were accepted to study at TUFS through the short-term joint education program, as part of the TUFS Japan Specialist Program for the Enhancement of Japanese Language and Cultural Outreach in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, which serves to enhance the global outreach of TUFS.

During this program, students majoring in Khmer (Cambodian) at TUFS, and students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh engaged in tandem learning together. The Tandem learning was conducted fully in Khmer, and it was a good opportunity for the 17 TUFS student participants to put into practice the Cambodian proficiency skills they acquired in their studies.
First, as part of the tandem learning program, we prepared and organized a workshop for the students at Tsukishima Daini Elementary School themed around learning about Cambodia. Since preparations took place while classes were not being held as a result of Gaigosai, many graduates of the Cambodian faculty who are currently in various fields of work and Cambodian international students from other universities visited the classroom, and mingled with enrolled students and international students.

On the day of the workshop at the elementary school, after practicing Cambodian songs and dances in the gymnasium with about a hundred fifth-grade students and teachers, the participants were divided into three classrooms and a total of nine groups held an interactive workshop which featured poster sessions introducing Cambodian culture, writing one's name in Khmer characters, and learning to use Krama (a type of all-purpose Cambodian cloth).

We also engaged in various activities such as going to museums, visiting corporations to learn about present-day Japan, and visiting Japanese households. In the company visits, our university students translated the descriptions of production processes and quality management into Khmer.

In addition to the cultural exchange activities, Mr. Thea Sok Meng, Head of the Department of Khmer Literature, and the Assistant Vice President, Ms. Ith Puthealika, came with the Cambodian students, and held conferences on 'The Reading Habits of Cambodian University Students' and 'Women's Careers'. On Wednesday the 29 ^th of November, our university director and vice president Ms. Kayoko Hayashi and Assistant Vice President Ms. Puthealika held a conference on academic credit transfer and maintaining the quality of said transfer credits, based on the "ASEAN Plus Three Guidelines on Student Exchanges and Mobility", as well as on the preparing of handbooks for international students. They exchanged views over the development of the partnership between the two universities.