Sakura Youth Exchange Program in Science

Kumamoto University hosted the Sakura Youth Exchange Program in Science from the 4th to 12th October 2015. Dr Mohammad Hilni bin Harun Sani, lecturer from Chemical Sciences and two FOS students, Muhammad Nur Syafi’ie bin Haji Md Idris and Fang Xue Yuan, attended the event. The Sakura program aims to promote science and technology in Asia and enhance exchanges of youth between Japan and Asia. It also encourages collaboration between industry-academia-government and at the same time, raise the interest of Asian youths towards Japanese universities and research interests.

The 9-day program, organised by Prof John Chen, was also attended by students and staff from two Chinese universities, Wuhan and Dalian University. The program consisted of lectures by professors who are experts in their research field. We were given a tour of some research facilities such as the Magnesium Research Centre, which focuses on the development of Mg alloys with high tensile strength and heat resistance, for potential applications in the automotive and aerospace industry. We also went to a Honda motorcycle factory, which is one of the largest Honda factory and was built with the concept of an “environmentally-responsible plant”. We also gave a presentation about UBD to the students. It was an excellent opportunity to promote UBD and inform them on what UBD can offer to international students.