From Wednesday, August 5 to Monday, August 10, the fourth annual INU Student Seminar, which discusses peace and global citizenship, was held in Hiroshima City and on the Higashi-Hiroshima campus of Hiroshima University. This year, international participants included 20 students and 8 staff from 8 International Network of Universities (INU) member universities in 7 countries and from member universities in Japan, 8 students from Ritsumeikan University and 23 students (including 3 international students) from Hiroshima University participated.

On Wednesday, August 5 and Thursday, August 6 in Hiroshima City, students visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, listened to a personal account of an atomic bomb survivor, participated in the Peace Memorial Ceremony, and toured the city. From Friday, August 7, the seminar took place on the Higashi-Hiroshima campus and the students listened to a keynote speech given by Dr. Vesselin Popovski, Senior Academic Officer and Director of Studies in International Order and Justice at Institute of Sustainability and Peace, United Nations University, as well as lectures by Dr. Nassrine Azimi, Senior Advisor to the Executive Director, United Nations Institute for Training and Research’s Hiroshima Office, Dr. Claude L�vi Alvar�s, Professor of the Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University and Dr. Emiko Nakasaka, Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Social Sciences. In addition, through three different topic-based workshops (“Global Identities”, “Globalisation ＆ Migration”, and “Balncing Sovereignty and Global Citizenship”) and lectures by other seminar instructors, discussions were held from various perspectives.

During the Mock United Nations Role-play held on the final day, Monday, August 10, participants were divided into 8 representative country groups to confer on the set topic, “Refugees”, “Economic Development Assistance”, “Border Security”, and “Respect for Sovereignty”. For approximately 5 hours, the students engaged themselves in serious and heated discussion from the points of view of their respective countries.

Hiroshima University and the INU have jointly held this seminar since 2006 with the aim of promoting educational exchange among INU member universities. The university plans to host the seminar again next year around the same time in August in Hiroshima.

For inquiries about this article, please contact the following:

Ms. Masako Ono

The International Student Exchange Group

Academic Office

082-424-4345

E-mail