On January 23, 2023, President Mitsuo Ochi and Shinji Kaneko, Executive Vice President (Global Initiatives) of Hiroshima University participated in the "Japan-India University Forum," a gathering of leaders such as Presidents of top universities in Japan and India. The Forum was organized by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for the first time under the theme of "Strengthening Exchange between Japanese and Indian Universities and Research Institutes and Resolving Future Issues," with the aim of forming a foundation for exchange to further promote research cooperation and human resource exchange between the two countries. 

The forum, held at the Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo, opened with an address by Kazuhito Hashimoto, President of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Following the opening remarks, Mr. Hiroshi Masuko, Director-General, Higher Education Bureau of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and Mr. Mayank Joshi, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of India in Tokyo also said a few words. Presidents of 10 universities from India and 19 universities from Japan, including our university, then gave presentations on the achievements, results/findings, future trajectories and challenges of Japan-India exchanges at their respective universities. 

In his speech titled "Our History and Future with India," President Ochi introduced Hiroshima University's more than 60 years of diverse exchange with India.  

In 1967, under the framework of the Overseas Academic Research Program of the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research established by the Japanese government, HU was the first Japanese university to undertake regional studies in India (17 research teams were dispatched by 1997). Furthermore, the ILDP program and other programs of HU focusing on the country were successively selected by the MEXT Inter-University Exchange Program (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), and student and researcher exchanges have been ongoing between the two countries throughout HU. 

After each university's presentation, a roundtable discussion was held on the theme of "Development and Exchange of Young Innovative Human Resources in Japan and India," where university presidents of the two countries discussed the challenges in developing young talent exchanges and the expected exchange areas. Finally, the declaration of the Japan-India University Forum was read out and the meeting came to a close. 

• Indian University (Titles omitted)

R.VELRAJ, Anna University/ Yogesh SINGH, Delhi University/ Subhasis Chaudhuri, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay/ Ambuj Sagar, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi/ P. K. Iyer, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati/ B.S.Murty, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad/ Subramaniam Ganesh, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur/ Virendra Kumar Tewari, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur/ Koshy Varghese, Indian Institute of Technology Madras/ Santishree D. Pandit, Jawaharlal Nehru University
 

• Japanese University (Titles omitted)

Kiyohiro HOUKIN, Hokkaido University/ Hideo OHNO, Tohoku University/ Kyosuke NAGATA, University of Tsukuba/ Kaori HAYASHI, The University of Tokyo/ Kazuya MASU, Tokyo Institute of Technology/ Kohei ITOH, Keio University/ Rajib SHAW, Keio University/ Jun YAMADA, Shibaura Institute of Technology/ Masahiko GENMA, Waseda University/ Izuru UMEHARA, Yokohama National University/ Madhusoodhan Satish KUMAR, Niigata University/ Shigeharu KAMADO, Nagaoka University of Technology/ Kazuhiro YOSHIDA, Gifu University/ Makoto KONDO, Shizuoka University/ Naoshi SUGIYAMA, Nagoya University/ Nagahiro MINATO, Kyoto University/ Yoshio NAKATANI, Ritsumeikan University/ Takao ONOE, Osaka University/ Tatsuro ISHIBASHI, Kyushu University/ Mitsuo OCHI, Hiroshima University