September 2, 2004

Okayama University president visits SOU to exchange ideas

By Steve Zimmerman
Ashland Daily Tidings

Ichiro Kono, president of Okayama University, is making his first visit to Southern Oregon University. He is here to witness first-hand the student exchange program between the two universities.

He also hopes to expand the program.

"The reasons for my visit here are two-fold," he said. "One, I wanted to say thank you to the university, President Zinser and the staff for taking in 34 students from my university," he said. "And for giving them the exercise of learning to speak English and to study American culture.

"The second is in the future we would like to continue the program and expand it by including staff from each university in an exchange. That is my goal."

Kono noted the beauty of Ashland and SOU.

"It is a very beautiful area and a very nice town," he said. "My first impression of the city is it is like a small town in Canada."

In his time with SOU President Elizabeth Zinser, Kono has found his interaction with the faculty rewarding.

"It has been very interesting and special," he said. "I have been most interested to see the content and characteristics of what American students study."

Zinser said she and Kono discussed at length how the university system in Japan differs from the American college system.

"In Japan, after Tokyo University and Kyoto University, at the national universities, which are like state universities here, the courses are the same," she said. "What he is finding here is how much uniqueness we have in the way we approach certain fields of study."

Americans assume technology is still the leading export from Japan and the Far East. But Kono said outside factors are changing things.

"Economic conditions are not very good now in Japan," he said. "They are thinking the system and message must change. Also the staff at the university must also think about changing the system."

As president of Okayama University, Kono has the authority to make changes within the university. He has been president for six years and has worked with the university for 20 years.

In the past, Americanization of Japanese students attending college in the Unites States has been a concern of their parents. Kono said he is not concerned about that happening.

"The Japanese young people should be able to see the good things about the United States," he said. "They will, I hope, make new better cultures through exchange between the two countries. After the second world war, we in Japan studied many things from the United States. So I am not afraid to Americanize Japanese students."

Zinser said that is the goal of the exchange program.

"One of the most important elements to undergraduate education today is to help American students come to understand other cultures," she said. "And to take on some of the values and characteristics that they can from that understanding, while at the same time celebrating their own culture."