KIT Summer Institute 2016, held on August 10th, 2016, with 25 students and 5 faculty members from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) as guests, featured a short, but active program.

The lectures, “Mystery of Natural Rubber” by Professor Yuko Ikeda (Faculty of Molecular Chemistry and Engineering) and “Microgravity Experiments of Dusty Plasmas” by Associate Professor Kazuo Takahashi (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Electronics) were held in the morning, and sparked various opinions and questions from participants majoring in these fields. Later, with six students from KIT, the students were divided into teams, taught Malaysian and Japanese words to each other and played memory game with enthusiasm. During intercultural activities, the students wore their national costumes and learned about Malaysian, Indian, Chinese and Japanese traditional costumes. In the afternoon, UMP students visited the laboratories of Associate Professor Daisuke Iba (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) and Professor Kaeko Kamei (Faculty of Molecular Chemistry and Engineering), where they enthusiastically listened to research reports from KIT faculty and students.

Although it was only a one-day program, we received feedback from the participants saying that they were satisfied with their academic and intercultural experience, and would like to apply to the KIT graduate school. There was also a request from the UMP faculty for academic exchange with KIT. This showed that even a short program can provide opportunities to initiate academic exchange and attract overseas students.

• A Summer Institute lecture
• Participant asking questions at the lab
• Winning intercultural game team
• Participants and faculty members
  in their national costumes