On Friday, May 24, 2024, about 40 people, including Mr. Rodrigo Capelato, the Executive Director of SEMESP in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Professor Alexandre Uehara from Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing, ESPM, visited Eikei University of Hiroshima.

The purpose of this visit was to gain deep insights by directly observing Japan's advanced educational programs, their effectiveness, and outcomes. The delegation visited Japanese universities from May 20 to 27.

First, President ARINOBU Mutsuhiro of Eikei University of Hiroshima gave a welcome address.

This was followed by a greeting from Mr. Rodrigo Capelato, the Executive Director of SEMESP.

Mr. Capelato mentioned that SEMESP has been conducting overseas visits since 2009 and expressed his hope to learn best practices from the Japanese education system during this visit to help solve issues in Brazilian higher education.

After that, Professor YASUI Toshiyuki, Dean of Department of Social System Design at Eikei University of Hiroshima, provided an overview of the university and its educational activities in Portuguese.

During the Q&A session, many questions were raised about the gender ratio, the number of international students, Project Based Learning, and Liberal Arts.

The delegation toured the university facilities and dormitories, guided by three of our students. Following that, they observed the "Project Based Learning II" class, which is a required course for third-year students.

Professor KAWASE Maki provided an overview of the class, and the delegation asked specific questions such as how often the students collaborate with companies. The students actively answered these questions in English.

Comment from Mr.Rodrigo Capelato

There are significant differences between university education in Brazil and Japan. In Brazil, many young people do not have the opportunity to attend university, and the university enrollment rate for young people aged 18 to 24 is only 20 percent. Of those, the dropout rate is as high as 57 percent.

In Brazil, it is a very challenging task to enhance student engagement and foster the desire to learn at the university level. Furthermore, many universities in Brazil are private, and a significant number of students drop out due to financial reasons and their inability to pay tuition fees.

What particularly impressed me during our visit to Eikei University was their proactive approach to engaging students and the design of their curriculum to support this.

I found it highly innovative that the university's goal is to solve social issues, and that their curriculum is designed to equip students with the skills needed to adapt to a digital society.

I strongly felt the importance of students learning here in order to develop the people who will be needed in the future.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the members of the SEMESP for visiting Eikei University of Hiroshima.

At Eikei University of Hiroshima, we welcome visits from around the world, not just Japan, to spread awareness of our new educational system.

Please feel free to contact us at the address below.

Academic Planning Office
e-mail: publicrelations@eikei.ac.jp