Experiences of establishing the sistership with universities in tropical countries

Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, has been devoting at most efforts to promoting internationalization. Particularly, since 2006, special efforts have been made to develop international exchange programs at the university level. Strategically important for such developments are collaborative activities with sister institutions while using our Asian countries alumni network. Capitalizing on these efforts, we are trying to promote human resources development for Japanese as well as foreign students. As to research, the most important attempt for the university is to form centers of excellence as many as possible. As the first step toward that direction, in November 2009, a resolution was made and signed by faculties from sister institutions abroad, to establish the “Asia Environmental Horticulture Consortium”. The main objective of this consortium is to train young scientists and technicians, through collaborative education among the sister institutions abroad, particularly in ASEAN countries. In 2009, the Graduate School of Horticulture founded a degree program on protected horticulture and landscape for master and Ph.D. students (English courses) and launched double degree and collaborative education programs with many universities in tropical Asia, such as Mahidol University in Thailand and Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia. Today, this partnership has been extended to universities in the sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.