NEWS: UPEI signs MOU with Japan’s University of the Ryukyus

UPEI signs MOU with Japan’s University of the Ryukyus

November 22, 2018 —

UOR President Ashiro & UPEI President Alaa

On November 21, University of Prince Edward Island President Alaa Abd-El-Aziz and Island Studies professor and UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability Dr. Jim Randall welcomed a delegation from the University of the Ryukyus, an island university based in Okinawa, Japan. The purpose was to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the two universities, to facilitate academic exchange of students and of faculty. 

Said University of the Ryukyus President Hajime Oshiro, “The University of Prince Edward Island and the University of the Ryukyus have been engaging in academic exchange led mainly by faculty members, specially, in the field of island studies. I myself specialize in island economics and was making research collaboration with the Institute of Island Studies of your university. The Research Institute for Islands and Sustainability of our university has also been collaborating with the Institute of Island Studies.”

Faculty from the two universities have visited back and forth since 2014, when Prof. Yoko Fujita, University of the Ryukyus Vice President and Director of their Research Institute for Islands and Sustainability, visited UPEI to attend the Excellence Network of Island Territories (RETI) annual conference.

In 2017, the University of the Ryukyus hosted RETI; both co-holders of the UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability, Drs. Jim Randall and Godfrey Baldacchino, attended.