Sasakawa Fellowship Students Orientation 2022
The Orientation for the new Sasakawa Fellowship Students in the Class of 2023 was held at WMU on 23 September in the Sasakawa Auditorium. The orientation event is hosted annually by The Nippon Foundation to promote connections between the graduating Class and the incoming Sasakawa-sponsored students to foster future collaboration. The Class of 2022, with 31 Sasakawa Fellowship Students who will be graduating at the end of October, welcomed the 30 Sasakawa Fellowship Students in the Class of 2023.
The Sasakawa Fellows Programme provides a global network to enable Sasakawa Fellows who graduate from WMU to support their countries in addressing maritime policy challenges and to develop excellence in leadership as well as promote international cooperation. Sasakawa Fellowship Students are expected to take advantage of the experience gained at WMU to resolve challenges that their countries may face, and to build strong human networks to implement positive change in the maritime world as well as society in general.
The Nippon Foundation was represented by Mr. Eisuke Kudo, Advisor for the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF), Mr. Keiichiro Yamada, Program Director (SPF) and Ms. Kanako Matsuda, Ocean Education Division, Policy Research Department of SPF. The orientation included opening remarks by Mr Yamada who emphasized the importance of making connections with other Sasakawa Fellows to advance the network. Ms Matsuda then made a presentation on the history of the Sasakawa Fellows programme, its administration and funding arrangements. Mr Ko Taguchi in the Class of 2022 was the Master of Ceremonies.
Sasakawa Fellowship Students in both the Class of 2022 and the Class of 2023 introduced themselves to each other and to the SPF team. A reception followed in the WMU World Bistro where Ms Susan Jackson, Registrar, thanked The Nippon Foundation on behalf of the University for their extraordinary, and ongoing support for maritime and ocean capacity building through providing fellowships to WMU students. Professor Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs, Vice President (Academic), led a toast to the Sasakawa Fellowship Students and the fellowship programme. Overall, the event enabled the students to take up their own places in the expanding Sasakawa Fellowship network.
The Nippon Foundation’s contributions to WMU began in 1987 providing fellowships for WMU students from Asia and Africa. The WMU Sasakawa Fellowship Programme began in 1988. The Nippon Foundation is the largest fellowship donor to the University. The Class of 2023 Sasakawa Fellowship Students brings the total number of students funded by The Nippon Foundation to 759, coming from more than 80 countries.