Sophia Magazine vol.1 / SUMMER 2015

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6 Sophia University opened the Sophia ASEAN Hub Center, a new overseas foothold, in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 1, 2015. The center serves as Sophia’s operating base for educa-tion and research exchange in Southeast Asia and is engaged in implementing collaborative projects with international organiza-tions and higher education institutions while helping invite stu-dents and enroll them in overseas study programs. Sophia organized a symposium to commemorate the center’s launch on March 6, to which researchers and leaders in the busi-ness community were invited. Chancellor Toshiaki Koso noted the role to be played by the center as the hub for education and research in the vibrant Asian region. At the symposium, after an opening address delivered by guest speaker Teisuke Kitayama, Chairman of the Board of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Sophia University Vice President Miki Sugimura, Professor Yasushi Hirosato, Faculty of Global Studies, Professor Supachai Yavaprabhas, Chulalong-korn University, and others took the rostrum and discussed the ideal direction of the internationalization of higher education in the ASEAN region. In the afternoon, the high level of university student exchange programs in the region was emphasized in a lecture in which the SAIMS student exchange program between ASEAN universities and Sophia was described. This was fol-lowed by a very productive panel discussion among represen-tatives from seven universities in the region that have tied up with Sophia and its faculty, with a lively exchange of views and opinions on educational methods of effectively implementing programs targeting diverse students and how to evaluate them. Sophia has overseas bases in seven locations as of July 1: Shanghai, Luxemburg, Cologne, New York, Cairo, Siem Reap, and Bangkok.Sophia Sets Up New Overseas Hub in Bangkok, Thailand On November 19, 2014, Sophia University welcomed Dr. John J. DeGioia, President of Georgetown University (Washington D.C., U.S.A.), and conducted a ceremony to award him Sophia Univer-sity’s Esteemed Friend Honor. In addition, the parties signed an agreement to establish a special program to send applicants from Sophia to Georgetown University’s graduate school and kicked off full-edged discussions to implement the program. Georgetown University and Sophia have nurtured their partner-ship over the years since Sophia dispatched its rst study-abroad student to Georgetown in 1935. In 2013, Sophia’s faculty mem-bers and student delegation visited the university to organize a symposium to celebrate Sophia’s centennial of its founding while signing an agreement for comprehensive cooperation between the two universities. The Esteemed Friend Honor is awarded to those who have not only signicantly contributed to world peace and social and eco-nomic development but have also made achievements for Sophia as well. President DeGioia is the 7th recipient. In his commemorative speech, President DeGioia expressed his aspirations by saying, “Especially because the two universities share the Society of Jesus’s 450-year-long tradition and educa-tional spirit —‘Men and Women for Others, with Others’ — and have enjoyed a long history of exchange, I expect the two to dis-play leadership in the global community. Universities serve as the foundation for changing individual wisdom into collective wisdom and at the same time, the platform where it is handed down to the next generation and nurtured. As a common place to create wisdom, I want the relations between the two universities to become even more solid.” Sophia Awards EsteemedFriend to GeorgetownUniversity President DeGioia, Signs Agreementto Explore Accelerated Degree ProgramsChancellor Toshiaki Koso speaks at the opening ceremony.Left: President DeGioia delivers his lecture.Right: Georgetown University in Washington D.C.CAMPUS NEWS