20 students reunite, being connected by “Learn from Africa” our oversea short program

On September 23, an online student exchange event was held with 7 of our students and 13 students from University of Pretoria in South Africa joining. These students had met during Sophia’s Short-term Social Engagement Program “Learn from Africa” this spring. The purpose of the event was to discuss changes brought about to their everyday lives as well as to their learning environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After greetings, students of both universities presented current situations in each country and exchanged theirs views for selected topics. Sophia students described their life in Tokyo, such as classes becoming online and empty trains during rush hours. Pretoria students shared their difficulties of accessing online classes time to time due to unstable power supplies of the area. They went on to exchange their opinions and views about such as family, mental wellbeing, government policies during the pandemic. They agreed that SNS is a key communication tool with teachers and fellow students, which is essential to healthy student life.

Mariko Ishikawa (Department of Law, Faculty of Law 3rd year) made a comment that, “I was surprised by the differences as to measures taken by the government and issues incurred by the pandemic in each country. This event was encouraging in a sense to share and to sympathize challenges we all face as students. I would like to stay well informed of the news outside of Japan and look forward to more exchange opportunities like this.