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Tohoku University President Hideo Ohno held a small, town hall style meeting with students on January 29, to answer questions and hear candid thoughts on student life here, a 90-minute session that he described as "my reality check."

He said he wanted to hear directly from students about the ups and downs of life at Tohoku University, interaction he's missed since swapping his laboratory at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication for the office of the president.

"Sitting in my office, chairing executive meetings, things like that do not give me direct access to students. This is my way of hearing what they have to say, how they feel and what they think. If there are problems, I'd like to know what they are. There are things that I can help with and many things that are beyond my control. But it doesn't hurt me to listen."

The event attracted an even mix of local Japanese and foreign students, and the discussion was both frank and lively. Many students wanted advice.

"I asked what he thinks international students should do to maximize our experience here," said Qiu Jiahe, a first year PhD student from China. "I was a bit nervous but he was very kind. He said to learn the language, do good research and make many friends."

Yoshinori Watanabe asked how a university education can best build character.

In his reply, the president described his ideal learning environment as one where students can grow and develop naturally. Rather than classes where students are lectured to, he said he would prefer a situation where ideas are freely shared and discussed, and where students are encouraged to make their own decisions about them.

Yota Ono, a law student, said that he was glad he had the chance to meet the president before graduating this spring. "I was a little bit surprised that he allowed us to ask anything we wanted. He even listened to our complaints."

And there were indeed a few of those, ranging from the operating hours of the campus shuttle bus, to the occasional lack of halal food in campus canteens.

Zahra Azizah, a graduate student on the Future Global Leadership programme, said she attended the meeting in order to raise a concern that she and her friends have about the courses offered in English.

"We are on an international course, but my friends and I find it hard to understand the lessons because most of them are in Japanese and my Japanese is not very good," she said. "Even though there are some slides and materials in English, we don't always fully understand what is being said, and there's never enough time to ask the teacher for a better explanation."

President Ohno said that he was aware that those courses could be better, and gave the assurance that that are on-going talks to address the problems. "It's difficult to go from zero straight to 100 percent English, so we've had to introduce intermediary steps, such as having lectures in Japanese but with English slides and materials," he said.

"But given that 25 percent of graduate students are international, this intermediary step has to move up to the next level, and I've already discussed this with the people in charge of these programmes."

Before the talk, the students had a sneak peek at the president's office, where a few of them were amused by the sparse decorations.

Asked if he would do such a meeting again, President Ohno replied with a quick yes, adding that he found the dialogue useful. "Even though it was a very small sample of students this time, the atmosphere was very positive and sincere. Even the complaints were not really complaints. Like all of us, students just want some things to be improved. I appreciate that they were willing to take time to come here and share their ideas with me."

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