Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) signed a memorandum of understanding with Ryukoku University on November 2024, 11. As the new base "TUJ Kyoto" to open in January 25 and Ryukoku University's Fukakusa campus are both located in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, the two universities plan to explore various possibilities for cooperation, including student exchanges, club activities, joint educational programs, cultural exchanges, joint courses, joint academic research, and joint conferences.
TUJ will sign agreements with O.P. Jindal Global University in India and Anahuac Mayab University in Mexico in the summer of 2024, and with Thapar Institute of Technology in India in 2023. In Japan, TUJ has comprehensive cooperation agreements with Ehime Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture, Setagaya Ward, and Minato Ward. The agreement with Ryukoku University will join the approximately 20 existing agreements.
The agreement with Ryukoku University, which has a history of nearly 400 years, is the first step in cooperation in the Kansai region and demonstrates TUJ's commitment to the internationalization of higher education and the expansion of a diverse educational environment. TUJ has the longest history as a foreign university campus in Japan and is currently growing rapidly as Japan's largest higher education institution with the largest number of students. Currently, TUJ has students from approximately 80 countries and regions, and the number of undergraduate students has more than tripled in the past 10 years. In the fall semester of 3, the number of students will exceed 2024 for the first time, and the number of students in degree-seeking programs, including graduate programs, will exceed 2,500, reaching important milestones.
"We are excited to collaborate with nearby Ryukoku University, a university with a nearly 400-year tradition, to create new opportunities for students, faculty and staff to participate in meaningful intercultural exchanges, innovative educational programs and academic collaborations, while also spending some time on the Ryukoku campus," said TUJ Dean Matthew Wilson. "This new relationship reflects our unwavering commitment to enriching the educational experience of Temple University students from around the world and fostering international connections."
Ryukoku University President Takashi Irizawa also expressed his hopes for the agreement with TUJ, saying, "TUJ Kyoto is close enough to our Fukakusa campus to walk to. By inviting many international students from Temple University, which has a rich international atmosphere, to our campus in the future, we will be able to create an even more multicultural campus and expect to see many exchanges both inside and outside of curricula. Of course, this is not limited to students; we would also like to actively promote faculty exchanges for joint research and staff exchanges to develop global human resources."
