Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) cooperating with a further university in Japan: The declaration of intent for cooperation was already confirmed in May 2022 during this year's NAFSA Conference & Expo in Denver, USA, where representatives of Aoyama Gaguin University (AGU) and Aschaffenburg UAS met in person. Now the two universities have signed the Memorandum of Understanding.
Aoyama Gakuin University (AGU) is a private university founded by Christian missionaries in Tokyo in 1874. AGU is known for having an above-average number of its alumni enter the Japanese parliament and hold high-ranking positions in listed companies. In the University Brand Image Survey of 2020 to 2021 by Nikkei BP Consulting, AGU ranked 5th in the Tokyo metropolitan area and 4th in the most sought-after private universities in Tokyo, right after Waseda, Keio and Sophia Universities.
-
Aoyama Gakuin University (AGU) in Tokyo is a private university with approximately 20,000 students.
English-language degree programmes in the humanities, social sciences and engineering and excellent foreign language training
Almost 20,000 students are spread across AGU's two campuses: interspersed with parks, Shibuya Campus in the heart of Tokyo and, located a little outside, Sagamihara Campus with state-of-the-art research facilities. While the Shibuya district, which is also famous for its busy intersection of the same name (known, for example, from the film "Lost in Translation"), is home to the social sciences and humanities courses, engineering subjects can be studied in Sagamihara. In total, there are eleven faculties with 25 departments at undergraduate level and 12 different schools at graduate level. In addition to fully English-taught degree programmes, the offer also includes numerous English-taught modules that can be taken by exchange students. In addition to its excellent foreign language training, AGUfeatures a multidisciplinary teaching approach, which combines humanities, social sciences and engineering.
Get to know our new partner university in Tokyo: Video of AGU
The contact with AGU came about thanks to numerous joint conferencecontributions and research activities, which have been intensified in recent years by Prof. Dr Renate Link from AUAS and Prof. Dr Eriko Katsumata from the School of International Politics, Economics and Communication. The two lecturers have also successfully held intercultural COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) workshops and further training modules for lecturers in the field of EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) together virtually. Due to the close and good cooperation, they suggested a partnership between their universities. The two professors met through their voluntary work at SIETAR, the Society for Intercultural Training, Education and Research. Prof. Dr. Katsumata was the vice-president of SIETAR Japan from 2017 to 2020 and Prof. Dr. Link has been the co-head of the SIETAR Regional Chapter Frankfurt-RhineMain-Lower Franconia since 2020.
-
Prof. Dr. Link and Prof. Dr. Katsumata are delighted about the partnership between their two universities (here at video conference in 2021).
Students of Aschaffenburg UAS can prepare themselves specifically for a stay at AGU as well as at the two other Japanese partner universities of TH AB, the Hiroshima Shudo University and the Kitami Institute of Technology on Hokkaido, by taking the Japanese courses offered by the Language Centre.
