News

Thirteen students have been awarded the Tohoku University Global Leader (TGL) certificate for summer 2020. To celebrate their achievements, the students took part in an online ceremony with university president Hideo Ohno on September 15.

The president congratulated the students and praised them for recognizing the importance of having a global mindset. Acknowledging that the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing rules make connections challenging, he said that preparing to be a contributor on the global stage should nonetheless remain every student's goal.

"The modern world has achieved rapid expansion due to globalization and cooperation, and there are still many issues that we have to tackle together, such as climate change," he said. "We are in a complicated situation facing an uncertain future, but we must not be deterred."

President Ohno also touched briefly on plans that the university has, to more actively promote international co-curricular studies in the second semester. This will see local Japanes students getting more opportunities to learn alongside students from foreign partner universities through initiatives such as the Online Study Abroad Program.

Speaking on behalf of the recipients, third-year law student Tomoaki Kurita described the ways the TGL Program helped shape his international ambitions. He spoke of his time as an exchange student at the University of Hawaii, and as a participant in an international law mock trial tournament. These experiences, he said, further fueled his desire for a career in the field of international security.

"What role does Japan play and how will Japan take the lead in creating a stable world? This is a question that I have consistently thought about at university," he said, calling on his fellow students and Global Leader Award recipients to also "consider ways to tackle this difficult question."

Since the ceremony was held online, there was no certificate presentation. Instead, the students were asked to comment on what being a global leader means to them. They each shared their favourite four-character Japanese idiom and described how the TGL Program shaped their personal growth by raising their awareness of world events and making them more confident communicators.

The Tohoku University Global Leader Program was started in 2013 as part of the university's efforts to internationalise its curriculum and promote co-learning among students of different cultures.

Local students receive the Global Leader certification after collecting points from classes and activities that encourage a global mindset. These include participating in study abroad or international programmes, doing volunteer work and passing foreign language proficiency tests.

This semester's group brings the total number of students who have been awarded the certificate to 118.

After the ceremony, the TGL Community Ambassadors hosted a networking session where former and current members of the programme got together to share their experiences and offer mentorship to the new Global Leader Award recipients.

News in Japanese