This year, KIT International Week 2020 was held online from January 18 to 26. Informing students about international exchange at KIT and encouraging them to participate in our study abroad programs are the aims of this annual event. Although students have been unable to go abroad this year due to Covid-19, this special week-long virtual event provided an opportunity for students to discover what they can do now to prepare to study abroad in the future and what kinds of virtual exchange are possible. Participants discussed the positive steps we can take to keep international exchanges going.

　On the first day of the Study Abroad Seminar, information was provided on the various study abroad programs and scholarships that KIT offers on a regular basis. In addition, we presented data on all the study abroad programs that have benefitted students over the past five years. We showed when, for how long, and in which countries students in each department and major have studied. This gave online participants a concrete vision on which to base their own study abroad plans. Next, a student who is currently studying online at Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo) gave a presentation on her online classes and impressions of the advantages and disadvantages of attending online classes from Japan. Her report showed that Coronavirus does not necessarily mean the end of study abroad options.

Students report on online classes in PoliTo

　Another drawback to student life during the pandemic has been the difficulty of finding friends. To assist with this problem, members of KITICO, a student volunteer group that supports international students, and members of Mcafe, an international exchange program in the Global Commons (1st floor of the library), collaborated to create an online event.
In this event, our Egyptian and Indonesian students each introduced a typical lunch from their country. Participating students asked questions and enjoyed talking online. The students exchanged contact information at the end of the session and were excited about continuing this kind of exchange in the future.

• International students introducing
  their lunch during online talk

• International students introducing
  their lunch during online talk

　In the report and briefing session on short-term English study abroad programs, students talked about their participation in past programs in the U.K., Australia and the Philippines, which unfortunately, were cancelled this year. The English language professors in charge of these programs gave various suggestions on what we can do now to make our future study abroad experience more fulfilling. The online student audience said that although they had lost their motivation to study abroad, after listening to these talks, they decided to work harder to realize their dream of studying abroad.

　For the 12th Career X English session, we invited Mr. Toshimi Kumazaki of Mitsuboshi Belting Co., Ltd. to give a talk on what working in an international context is really like. He spoke from his experience working in the U.S. and Thailand, about how he overcame language and cultural barriers, how he interacted with local employees, and more.

Mr. Kumazaki’s lecture

　This year, a state of emergency was declared just before International Week was to be held, so the entire event was held online, but many students participated and said that they were motivated to continue international exchange in spite of the disruptions from Covid-19.