UW News

April 29, 2004

Bothell chancellor inks agreement with Japanese university

UW Bothell Chancellor Warren W. Buck visited Japan recently to sign the second of two exchange agreements between Ehime University and UW Bothell.


The partnership promotes academic exchange through the interchange of researchers and students, and broader cooperation between the two universities. The first agreement, having to do primarily with faculty exchange, was signed at the UW Bothell in February. Both agreements will be valid for five years and are renewable at succeeding intervals of five years.


This agreement will permit a small number of students from each university to take courses for credit at the other university. In practice, few undergraduates at UW Bothell will have the qualifications to enroll in courses at Ehime University because Japan requires that undergraduates from abroad pass a Japanese language proficiency exam. This requirement does not apply to graduate students.


“This agreement,” Chancellor Buck says, “offers every area of UW Bothell, even the library, a chance for exchange.”


The agreement grew out of a collaborative research project between UW Bothell’s Computing and Software System’s professor, Munehiro Fukuda, and his partner at Ehime University, Professor Shinya Kobayashi, who has been a guest professor at UW Bothell. In March of 2002, a group of faculty and administrators from Ehime, which included Professor Kobayashi, visited UW Bothell to learn more about the campus.


“An agreement like this is more meaningful if signed in the home country,” says Chancellor Buck. “The first part was signed here at the UW Bothell, so it is appropriate that we travel to Ehime University to sign the second portion,” he says. “Our stay, which coincided with Cherry Blossom time, was delightful,” Chancellor Buck says. “I am especially thankful to Dr. Masayuki Komatsu, Ehime University president, who was extremely gracious and hospitable. Any of our UW Bothell faculty and students who take advantage of this exchange will be treated to a uniquely rich cultural experience.”


Chancellor Buck was joined by his wife, Linda A. Horn, and Steven W. Collins, associate professor of global studies and science at UW Bothell.


Ehime University, which is located in Matsuyama City, the capital of Ehime Prefecture, is one of Japan’s national/public universities, having an enrollment of 8,300 undergraduate and 1,400 graduate students.


While on the Ehime campus, Chancellor Buck met with Koichi Kashiwagi, one of the first Ehime/UW Bothell exchange students. The visit also included a tour of Matsuyama City, which is almost the sizeof Seattle and the home of Japan’s oldest continuous-use hot springs spa. The group also traveled to Tokyo. This was Buck’s first foreign visit as Chancellor.


The text of the Agreement is available in both English, at: http://www.uwb.edu/aboutuwb/press/Ehime_-_UW_Bothell_memorandum_021804.pdf, and in Japanese at: http://www.uwb.edu/aboutuwb/press/Ehime_-_UW_Bothell_oboegaki_021804.pdf.