Shimonoseki City University, located in Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture (western Japan), is seeking to establish student mobility partnerships with UK institutions.

This is an excellent opportunity for UK universities to boost engagement with Japan and increase both inbound and outbound student mobility. Please see below for further details on the University and the type of partner sought.

Institution Overview (provided by the institution)

Shimonoseki City University (SCU) consists of an Economics faculty, with departments in Economics, International Commerce and Public Management, as well as a Graduate School of Economics. Although we are an economics university, we encourage the study of humanities more generally as well as the study of foreign languages, including Chinese and Korean in addition to English. We also place emphasis on promoting and supporting student mobility and do this through providing a variety of study abroad options, including international internships, as well as financial assistance for participating students.

With a current student population of approximately 2,200, we are a small, at-home university that provides a great environment for students of Japanese. We have an annual intake of around 30 international and study abroad/exchange students, and provide high quality Japanese language and cultural courses with small class numbers to students aiming to achieve N3, N2 and N1 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Our study abroad/exchange students can freely choose from almost all courses on offer, which means that highly motivated students can take lecture and seminar courses conducted in Japanese, as well as participate in independent research and internship programs. There are a small number of English Mediated Instruction courses on offer, and it is also possible to take Chinese and Korean language classes.

10 minutes walk from the university is the dormitory for international students which provides fully-furnished rooms with own toilet, bathroom and kitchen from 18,000 to 28,000 yen/month. SCU is perfect for students looking for an affordable, fully immersed study abroad experience, and it is just a short bullet train ride from Fukuoka, the fifth most populous city in Japan. 

Type of Partner Sought

SCU is primarily looking to establish partnerships that allow student exchange and that could also facilitate other forms of cooperation and collaboration. They would like to send their students to study for one to two semesters as exchange students taking subjects in the fields of economics, business, management and humanities; however, this can include study within fee paying English language courses for students not meeting proficiency requirements. While they would prefer to receive students coming to study for one to two semesters, they are also open to more flexible incoming exchange patterns including receiving students to study within short-term intensive programs, etc, and they are happy to investigate options depending on the needs of the potential partner university.

SCU seeks partner institutions that provide some degree of support to incoming study abroad students, including the provision of information about finding housing.  Ideally, partner institutions should have a Japanese language program or offer Japanese language and/or Japan-related courses, though this is not a pre-requisite for partnering with SCU. They are open to discussing options with universities of all sizes and locations.