On Saturday, December 23, 2017, Hiroshima University held the 1st Hiroshima University Study Abroad Information Session and PEACE Student Exchange Program Information Session 2017 on the campus of Institute of Technology of Cambodia (with which HU concluded an MOU in November 2017) in Phnom Penh. The event attracted about 450 interested participants including Cambodian local students in university or high school, faculty members of Cambodian local universities, and staff members of governmental organizations in Cambodia.

The event opened with the keynote speeches by Dr. HUL Seingheng, Director of Research and Innovation Center, Institute of Technology of Cambodia and Dr. Rey Sopheak, Deputy Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport, followed by (1) an overview of Hiroshima University and PEACE Student Exchange Program in which 4 Cambodian PEACE exchange students (Ms. Sim Lida & Mr. Kheang Chheangmay, from Royal University of Phnom Penh; Mr. Poch Rothpiseth & Ms. Tuy Dawin, from University of Health Sciences), who studied at HU in the spring semester 2017, shared their study abroad experiences, (2) three faculty information sessions (Graduate School of Engineering, Graduate School of Biosphere Science Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation) led by our faculty members, and (3) three scholarship information sessions (JDS scholarship, MEXT scholarship, international student supports offered by HU). As for the scholarship information sessions, we invited Mr. Kao Sovansophal, Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (M.A. from HU in 2013) and Dr. Eam Phyrom, Cambodian Development Resource Institute (Ph.D. from HU in 2017) to share with the participants their study abroad experiences at HU as well as some tips for scholarship applications and interviews. There were also individual faculty booths that can provide the interested participants with more detailed information about the education programs as well as application procedures for our Graduate Schools.

The project proposal of Hiroshima University for the FY 2016 “Inter-University Exchange Project” (Re-Inventing Japan Project-Type B: Promoting exchanges with ASEAN universities) was adopted by the Japanese government in 2016, and, since then, HU has been playing a leading role in promoting student mobility especially among CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand). HU is willing to continue to offer study abroad information sessions like the one we just had in Phnom Penh, trying to attract more and more international students from these nations.