The Opening Ceremony for the Kyoto iUP Preparatory Course was held on September 29, 2023.
Kyoto University is accepting excellent undergraduate students from all over the world through Kyoto University International Undergraduate Program (Kyoto iUP). In this program, students are not required to have Japanese language proficiency at the time of application.
This year we are welcoming 20 students from 12 countries and regions. The nationalities of students have become even more diverse, and for the first time, we are accepting students of Indian and German nationalities.
The ceremony opened with a welcome address by Professor Hiroshi Kokubu, the Executive Vice President. He introduced Kyoto University’s basic philosophy of “自学自習 (independent learning)” and encouraged students to make many friends and study Japanese language hard. Then Professor Hisashi Miyagawa, director of the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences (ILAS), delivered a welcome presentation. In the presentation, after introducing episodes from “Tsurezuregusa” by Kenko Yoshida and the words of Confucius, Prof. Miyagawa emphasized the importance of proactively asking people for advice and learn from them.
Next, the ILAS Professors and Lecturers who will be teaching the students during the next six months of the Preparatory Course introduced themselves to the students.
Finally, the new Preparatory Course students introduced themselves. Everyone gave a speech about their aspirations for university life, partially using Japanese they had studied.
Preparatory Courses began in October. The new Kyoto iUP students will start their lives in a completely new environment. We hope that they will spend next six months helping each other and spending fruitful time with their classmates.
About Kyoto iUP：https://www.iup.kyoto-u.ac.jp/