From Tuesday, August 5 to Sunday, August 10, the third annual INU Student Seminar, which discusses peace and global citizenship, was held in Hiroshima City and on the Higashi-Hiroshima and Higashi-Senda campuses of Hiroshima University. This year, international participants included 16 students and 11 staff from 7 International Network of Universities (INU) member universities in 6 countries and from member universities in Japan, 4 students from Ritsumeikan University and 45 students (including 6 international students) from Hiroshima University participated.



On Tuesday, August 5 and Wednesday, August 6 in Hiroshima City and the Higashi-Senda campus, students visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, listened to a lecture by an atomic bomb survivor, participated in the Peace Memorial Ceremony, and toured the city. From Thursday, August 7, the seminar took place on the Higashi-Hiroshima campus and the students listened to a keynote speech given by Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, as well as lectures by Dr. Nassrine Azimi, Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research's Hiroshima Office, Dr. Thomas Weber, associate professor at La Trobe University (Australia), and Professor Toshiro Ochiai of the Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University. In addition, through three different topic-based workshops ("Sharing the Global Commons", "Nationalism vs. Global Citizenship", and "Building Cities"), videos, and lectures by seminar instructors, discussions were held from various perspectives.



During the Mock United Nations Role-play held on the final day, Sunday, August 10, participants were divided into 9 representative country groups to confer on the set topic, "Can Nuclear Weapons Be Declared Illegal by International Law?" 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 Kotake

The International Planning and Cooperation Group

Academic Office

Tel: 082-424-6042

E-mail: kokusai-kikaku (at) office.hiroshima-u.ac.jp

Please change "at" to the appropriate mark.

INU Student Seminar