Students’ Exchange Program with Yamagata University
ELMER A. IRENE, Ed.D.
Yamagata University
Yamagata University (YU) is a national university where its four campuses are located in Yamagata City, Kojirakawa (Main campus), Yamagata, Iida campus (Faculty of Medicine), Yonezawa City (Faculty of Engineering) and Tsuruoka City ( Faculty of Agriculture) in Yamagata Prefecture. The university was established in 1949 but earlier it started as Yamagata Normal school, a public teacher-training institution, then other campuses were established in Yonezawa as well as in Tsuruoka. Following a motto “Act globally, Base locally”, YU is the second-largest university in the Tohoku Region with six faculties and about 10,000 students in four campuses, in which there are more than 1,200 graduate students and 267 International students coming from 29 countries. YU has more than 2,000 academic and administrative staff.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings released in 2016–2017 ranked Yamagata University at 600-800th out of the top 980 universities in the world. In addition, YU is ranked in the tenth place (10th) in Japanese research organization ranking, announced in April 2017 by the analysis of the number of the highly cited papers in a “Materials Science” field alone in the Japanese local national university Ranking by Thomson Reuters.
Students’ Exchange Program
Last June 21, 2018, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for students’ Exchange was inked between Yamagata University and Samar State University (SSU). A faculty representative in the person of Dr. Yutaka Ito personally visited SSU in March 2018 to discuss the said collaboration. It was become easy considering that there were two personnel of SSU who were alumni of YU, namely: Engr. Francisco Dequito of the College of Engineering and Dr. Elmer Irene from the College of Education. The two SSU personnel assisted Dr. Ito’s visit to SSU and toured him around the city of Catbalogan.
On December 2018, five SSU personnel headed by the University President, Dr. Marilyn Cardoso, together with Dr. Esteban Malindog, Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Gina Españo, Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Alex Cardoso, Focal Person for QA of the College of Industrial Technology and the Director for International Affairs, Dr. Elmer Irene conducted an Exploratory Visit and Seminar at YU to learn teaching–learning strategies for international students, assessment and YU curricular programs. The visit explored further academic areas for collaboration and exchange.
Available Courses for Students’ Exchange at YU
As stated in the MOA, each institution may send and accept one Exchange Student (ES) for one year. Further, two (2) ESs studying for up to 6 months shall be equivalent to 1 ES studying for one year. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of YU is in-charge of this Exchange program in YU and ESs from SSU will be assigned in this faculty.
YU offers a variety of fixed-term programs to accept international students for up to one year. At YU, this type of program is called a short-term study abroad or exchange program or STEP-YU (Short-Term Exchange Program at YU). STEP-YU is comprised of reciprocal exchange programs and non-degree study programs that are described below.
Reciprocal exchange programs are designed for matriculated students at their home institution who are nominated as an exchange student to study at YU for a semester or one academic year. Exchange students are enrolled in either regular programs offered at each academic department or the Japan Studies Program according to their language level and purpose of study. There are a range of courses for the students to choose from according to their language level, including regular courses in their major field of study, Japanese language courses, English-based courses in Japanese culture, multicultural studies, and fieldwork. Credits earned at YU will be evaluated at the students’ home institutions.
Non-degree study programs are targeted for those who wish to take courses for credit as a non-degree study student in their fields of study for up to one year. These include the Japanese Studies Program (undergraduate), which is part of STEP-YU, and also the Teacher Training Program (graduate), both of which are government-funded and fairly competitive.
Short-term Students Exchange between SSU and YU
The first delegates of students for a short-term exchange was realized on May 2019. Five students and one faculty-chaperone namely CherryLou Bacalan, BSEd English 4th year, Mr. Ranniel Abarcar, BSEd Biological Science 4th year, Mr. Juancho Gulla Jr., BSEd Math 4th year, Ms. Nikki Ann Ramos, BSEd Social Studies 4th year and Ms. Aissa Dacol, BSIT Garments 3rd Year and Prof. Theresa Probadora, went to Yamagata University from May 7- 11, 2019. All five students had their first time to travel outside the Philippines except their chaperone. Prof. Probadora was also an alumna of a Teacher Training program in Japan from Kobe University so she was already familiar of the life and travel in Japan. Each student-participant had been assigned to be a resource speaker in the following topics: Mr. Gulla – Discussed SSU Curricular programs and Ms. Bacalan – SSU Hallmarks of Excellence, both discussed in front of YU faculty and students while Mr. Abarcar and Ms. Ramos presented Filipino culture in front of Junior high school students. On the other hand, Ms. Dacol, a BSIT student, represented SSU for industry linkage and internship to industry firms they visited in Yamagata.
Evaluation of the Program / Impressions from the Participants
Juancho N. Gulla Jr., BSEd Math graduate:
“Honestly, my experience in Yamagata Student Exchange program last May 2019 was still fresh in my mind until now. It was a great opportunity to be one of the students sent to Yamagata and it made a huge impact in my life. First, being more responsible about myself and my interaction with my colleagues especially it was my first time traveling abroad. Second, I learned a lot about the cultures, traditions, language, and practices inside the school and the community itself. Third, I believed that I made also an impact on the students in Yamagata by imparting how great SSU in catering to the students not only to learn but also to nurturing talents and values among the students. Yamagata students made some realization in terms of multi-cultural aspect that despite the diversity among students we can still create a good and pleasant environment between students and be united for a better future and that’s what SSU has. Lastly, that journey became an inspiration for all the students in SSU or even outside the university to dream high and pursue their goals in life that even they are still students they can already achieve one of their dreams like to travel abroad.”
Nikki Ann Ramos, BSEd Social Studies graduate:
“Being one of the first batches to be sent to a short-term student exchange program to Japan was such a huge opportunity and it was a great honor for me to be a part of it. It was a cultural exposure and somewhat a short-term immersion in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Yamagata University. The three days in Yamagata was short but when we were there, it was never like that. It felt like we’ve been there for a long time and we’ve known the people there for years. That’s how accommodating they are. In three days, Yamagata and Japan, in general, gave us an extreme sense of familiarity, the feeling that you don’t want to leave ever again, and if you do, you’ll always come back. Personally, the best experience being outside the country, and being everywhere, was meeting people. I think it’s the most beautiful part of life. The whole trip made me realize that meeting people comes only once in a lifetime, not like the other experiences that you can always repeat, places you can visit again and again. Sharing stories with them and having them a part of your life and you as part of theirs, too is incomparable and very heartfelt. So, be mindful of everyone you meet wherever you go. Because in them, you will find another world. And in going abroad, you will not find only another country, but another universe. One sea of possibilities, and mountains of wonder. I encourage all of you to always try to go of your comfort zone, out of ordinary, out and beyond, because you will really see that there’s a lot of life going on out there, waiting for you. The world is big and you belong in each of its corners if you’re willing to share a part of you as well. And so, I thank SSU, SSU International Affairs and the COED family for this chance. Until we meet again, Japan.”
Cherry Lou Bacalan, BSEd English graduate:
“Representing SSU internationally was one of the huge opportunities that the school has given to me. I am proud that I was able to talk in front of the students of Yamagata University about how great SSU as an institution. Knowing that SSU trusted me to be one of the 5 participants of the student exchange program in Yamagata Japan it gave me confidence in a lot of aspects, facing different people of different race and culture. It was also a challenge since we were pushed to go out of our comfort zone but that challenge turned out to be a blessing since we learned to be more of who and what we are now. I learned a lot from the people, culture, their ways of living and from our experiences. This exchange student program taught us to be more disciplined, responsible, to be humble and be competent. Now that I have already graduated, I am glad that I was able to use these aspects at work. It gave me an edge to excel in what I do. The international arena is very huge and I believe we were able to overcome it and stand out, all thanks to SSU, our support system that made the greatness in all of us.”
Discover Japan with Freddy Yu sensei
by: ELMER A. IRENE, Ed.D.
What is “Discover Japan”?
The students of GE E6 Foreign Language course from the Bachelor of Science in Statistics program conduct a collaborative online lecture with a Resource person from Yamagata University. In this event, students will learn about Japanese culture, ceremonies and festivals, and other Japan thing. Hence, this program is dubbed as “Discover Japan”. The program is also part of the collaborative activity between Samar State University and Yamagata University, in which an MOU and MOA are inked sometime in 2018, sustaining its collaboration since then.
About the Resource Person
For this year, the invited Resource Person is Dr. Freddy Yu, a Professor and In-charge of International Students learning of Japanese culture, events and festivals of Yamagata University. Dr. Yu was once an international student from Taiwan in which he availed of a scholarship grant in Japan, finished his masters program and land a lecturer’s job at Yamagata University. He earned his doctorate degree from one of the prestigious universities in the United States. He is now a Japanese citizen, married with two kids.
The screenshot below is the official invite to Dr. Yu sensei.
SSU Participants to the Event
This year’s GE E6 class is composed of 39 students but only 25 had participated in the event. The class Representative Ms. Edmalyn Aguilar secured approval from the Dean for the use of CAS Amphitheater. Students residing in Catbalogan and nearby can come to SSU to attend the event as a group with only one LCD projector screen set up at the CAS Amphitheater. Others can join the virtual event via Zoom using their mobile phones and other gadgets. There were around 17 students who came to SSU while there were around 10 participants in the Zoom room.
Event documentations:
