Program

This program was held in July in 2019. It was an intensive 2-week program supported by the New Colombo Plan of the Australian government, designed to give selected Australian student engineers from the University of Queensland the opportunity to learn about the world-leading research and industries of Japan. During this program, 15 students attended seminars on cutting-edge engineering research at Kyushu University and visited 9 leading companies from Japanese industry, based in or with a large presence in the Kyushu area, such as TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU,Inc. and YASKAWA Electric Corporation. This gave the 15 UQ students the opportunity to study about Japanese Business Culture and become familiar with the Kyushu area in general.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on Monday July 1st. Mr. Ian Brazier, the Australian Consul-General of Fukuoka attended as special guest.

(Left) Opening address from Prof. Yoshio Hisaeda, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering  (Right) Greetings from Prof. Chiharu Kubo, President of Kyushu University

(Left)Greeting from Mr. Ian Brazier (Australian Consul-General Fukuoka)  (Right)Closing address from Prof. Yoshimi Sonoda, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering

Welcome Lunch Party

A welcome lunch-party was held after the opening ceremony to welcome the UQ students

(Left)Prof Masato Wakayama, Executive Vice President, Kyushu University  (Middle,Right)Greetings form representative of UQ students and KU students

Plenary Lecture

Australian Consul-General Fukuoka, Mr. Ian Brazier gave a lecture entitled “The connection of Australian and Kyushu economies”. UQ students had the opportunity to learn important background information about industry of the Kyushu area linked to Australia.

Lecture by Mr. Ian Brazier, Australian Consul-General Fukuoka.

Industry pre-visit seminars

To prepare students for field trips, a series of 4 lectures from faculty specialist in relevant areas were given, such as a seminar about shipbuilding by Prof. Koji Gotoh. Students were able to gain important knowledge and the background understanding to enable them to get the most out of their industrial visits.

(Left)Assoc. Prof.Kenji Tahara gave a lecture about “Robotics Technology in Japan”.
(Right)Assoc. Prof.Kohei Higashikawa gave a lecture about “Electrical Engineering and Superconducting Engineering for Advanced Applications”.

(Left)Prof. Koji Gotoh gave students a lecture about “LNG Carrier and Hull Construction Process”, prior to the visit to the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.(Right)Students had a lab tour with Prof. Masaki Tanaka and Prof. Toshihiro Tsuchiyama.

World-leading research at Kyushu University

To exemplify the world-leading research being carried out at the School and Faculty of Engineering, students attended a number of seminars and lab tour with leading faculty members, including an introduction about the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA) with Dr. William Potscavage  and an overview of the Ultramicroscopy Research Center with Prof. Syo Matsumura. Also, students could visit the hydrogen station with Assoc. Prof. Stephen Lyth.

(Left) Prof. Takahara Atsushi gave a lecture about “Fundamental Science and Engineering of Soft Materials for Next Generation Mobility”
(Right) Assoc.Prof. Aleksandar Staykov gave a lecture about “Chemical Processes at Surfaces and Interfaces. Insights from the Theory”

(Left)Dr. Potscavage explained to students during a tour of [OPERA].
(Right)Assoc. Prof. Stephen Lyth gave a lecture on HYDROGENIUS. After the lecture, students visited the Hydrogenius station.

Special lecture series on Japanese industry

In addition to lectures related to the specific industries to be visited by the students, Prof. Masamichi Kohno and Assoc. Prof. Martin Schröder gave a lecture titled “Introduction to Japanese Industries & History of Japanese industries” and “Introduction to the Toyota Production System & Impact of ASEAN Economic Integration on Automotive Supply Chain Organisation”.

(Left)The lecture of Introduction to Japanese Industries & History of Japanese industries by Prof Masamichi Kohno.(Right) The lecture of Introduction to the Toyota Production System & Impact of ASEAN Economic Integration on Automotive Supply Chain Organisation by Assoc. Prof. Martin Schröder.

Business Japanese

As part of its rich cultural heritage, Japan has developed a unique approach to inter-personal communication during business. In order to give students an in-depth understanding of the business customs of Japan and insight into their origins, Assoc. Prof. Natalie Konomi gave a lecture “Japanese Business Communication”. After the lecture, some students exchanged their own business cards in Japanese business manner style with the staff of the factories they visited.

Assoc. Prof. Natalie Konomi with the UQ students following their lecture on Japanese business customs.

Industry visits

In order to expose the visiting University of Queensland students to the wealth of industry that Japan, and particularly the Kyushu area, has to offer, a number of industry visits were arranged, including MITSUBISHI heavy Industries, Marine Structure Co., LTD., TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU, INC., Bridgestone Corporation Kitakyushu Plant, TOTO LTD., YASKAWA Electric Corporation, J-POWER（Electric Power Development Co. Ltd.), SUMCO CORPORATION, Nippon Steel Corporation, and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Imajuku Power Device Factory.

(Left)Bridgestone Corporation Kitakyushu Plant  (Right) TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU INC.

(Left)Bridgestone Corporation Kitakyushu Plant  (Right) TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU INC.

(Left) TOTO LTD.  (Right)J-POWER（Electric Power Development Co. Ltd.)

Buddy Meeting

We arranged a special meeting for the participant of UQ-JPIE program2019 and Q2PEC program 2019. Both programs aim to exchange research and education expertise through student exchanges. This was a great opportunity to communicate between our two universities.

The UQ-KU Student Workshop & Closing Ceremony

The UQ-KU student workshop was held on the 12^th of July; the last day of this program. 5 groups of UQ students and 5 KU students shared their experience and perspective through the UQ-JPIE and Q2PEC programs. Each group gave a meaningful presentation and after the presentation, students asked many questions.

(Left)Prof. Syo Matsumura,Vice president of Kyushu university, gave a speech at the Workshop.
(Right)The presentation of UQ students

(Left) Awarding of Certificate of Participation  (Right)UQ students gave a present to Prof. Yoshio Hisaeda, Dean, Faculty of Engineering

(Left)The speech on behalf of KU students   (Right)The closing remarks (Prof. Yoshio Hisaeda, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering)

Farewell Party

To mark the end of two busy weeks and celebrate the strengthened bond between parties in Japan and Australia, a farewell party was held. Students shared their experiences and thoughts with each other during the buffet dinner.

Thanks

The staff of the International Education Support Center for Engineering would like to sincerely thank the lecturers for their kind support of this program and the companies involved for allowing us to visit their factories and museums, helping to make this program a great success. We also thank the representatives and tour-guides for taking the time to introduce the facilities and answering questions from students. Special thanks are also directed to the distinguished guests and members of the Australian Consul-General Fukuoka who made time in their busy schedules to help inspire the visiting students and ensure that all could take home comprehensive understanding of Kyushu; both the University and the region as a whole. Participating students were able to attend lectures and visit representative industries in Kyushu, covering a wide range of engineering fields. The students were able to gain a sense of the current status of Japanese engineering technology and the history of its development, as well as learning about Japanese business culture.

UQ-JPIE（The University of Queensland-Japanese Program for Industry Experience) 2018

Program

This was an intensive 2-week program supported by the New Colombo Plan of the Australian government and held in July 2018, designed to give selected Australian student engineers from the University of Queensland the opportunity to learn about the world-leading research and industries of Japan. During this program, 20 students attended seminars on cutting-edge engineering research at Kyushu University and conducted visits to leading Japanese industries, either based or with a large presence in the Kyushu area, such as TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU,Inc. and YASKAWA Electric Corporation. Furthermore, the students had the opportunity to study about Japanese Business Culture and become familiar with the Kyushu area in general.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on Monday 2nd of July. Distinguished guests present included Mr. Ian Brazier, Australian Consul-General Fukuoka.

 (left) President of Kyushu University, Dr. Chiharu Kubo, gives a speech at the opening ceremony
(right) Australian Consul-General Fukuoka, Mr Ian Brazier, gives a speech at the opening ceremony

Welcome Party

A small lunch-party held after the ceremony to welcome the students.

At the Welcome party

Plenary Lecture

Australian Consul-General Fukuoka, Mr Ian Brazier lectured about the connection of Australian and Kyushu economics. UQ students had the opportunity to learn important background information about industry of the Kyushu area linked to Australia.

Lectured by Mr. Ian Brazier, Australian Consul-General Fukuoka

Industry pre-visit seminars

To prepare students for site visits, a series of 5 lectures from faculty specialist in relevant areas were given, such as a seminar about the Shipbuilding by Prof. Koji Gotoh. Here students were able to gain important background understanding to enable them to get the most out of their industrial visits.

（left）Prof Ryo Kurazume gave a lecture on Robotics（right） Students had a lab tour with Assistant. Prof Tatsuya Morikawa

World-leading research at Kyushu University

To exemplify the world-leading research being carried out at the School and Faculty of Engineering, students attended a number of seminars and lab visits with leading faculty members, including an introduction about the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA) with Prof Chihaya Adachi and an overview of the Ultramicroscopy Research Center with Prof Syo Matsumura.

Prof Chihaya Adachi gave a lecture on [OPERA].

Dr Potscavage explained to students during a tour of [OPERA].

Prof Syo Matsumura gave a lecture about electron microscopy research being carried out at Kyushu University

Assoc. Prof Stephen Lyth gave a lecture on [I2CNER] & [Q-PIT]

Students gather for a group photo with Assoc. prof Stephen Lyth

Prof Shigeru Aso gave a lecture about recent study on the space transportation system.

Students had a lab tour with Assoc. Prof Yasuhiro Tani

Joint lecture with Q²PEC

The University of Queensland, Prof Kazuhiro Nogita gave a joint lecture for UQ students as well as Kyushu University students due to participate in the Q²PEC program in Australia next August. The lecture covered [solar and electric vehicles],as well as [university R&D between Australia and Japan].

Special lecture series on Japanese industry

In addition to lectures related to the specific industries to be visited by the students, Prof. Masamichi Kohno and Assoc. Prof. Kohei Higashikawa lectured about the history of Japanese industry and the management philosophy of Japanese manufacturing companies and its context in the modern era.

(left)Prof Masamichi Kohno  (right)Assoc. Prof Kohei Higashikawa

Special lectures on Japanese business customs

As part of its rich cultural heritage, Japan has developed a somewhat unique approach to inter-personal communication during business. In order to give students an in-depth understanding of the business customs of Japan and insight into their origins, Ms. Miwa Gen from the Association of Independent Entrepreneurs gave a lecture including many hands-on practise activities. The students were then able to apply the skills learnt when interacting with company representatives during site visits.

(left)TOTO Museum, showcasing the history of TOTO LTD. since its founding over 100 years ago.   (right)At the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Students compete against a robot in the YASKAWA Electric Corporation Miraikan

Special lecture on HAKATA GION YAMAKASA

Here the students had the opportunity to learn special knowledge and information of Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival. This festival was certificated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 2 years ago. Assoc. Prof Kohei Hatano gave a lecture on Hakata Gion Yamakasa. He joined Yamakasa festival as a member of team. After a lecture students had a short tour of the festival course on final day.

Assoc. Prof Shigero Aso gave a lecture about HAKATA GION YAMAKASA.

Introduction of KU student circle Planet-Q

Planet-Q is a student club for the study of the space development. The students from Planet-Q gave a presentation of their activities and works to UQ students.

Buddy Meeting

We arranged a special meeting for the participant of UQ-JPIE program2018 and Q²PEC program2018. Both programs aim for exchanging research and education expertise through student exchanges. This was great opportunity to build friendship between our two universities.

The1^st UQ-KU Student Workshop

The 1st UQ-KU student workshop is held in this year. 5 groups of UQ students and 4 KU students shared their experience and perspective through the UQ-JPIE and Q²PEC program. Each group gave an comprehensive presentation of their 2-week stay, and the workshop was lively with many questions from the audience.

Closing ceremony

A closing ceremony was held and certificates of participation were awarded by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Prof Yoshio Hisaeda.

(left)Prof Koichiro Watanabe,Vice president of Kyushu university, gave a speech at the closing ceremony  (right)One of the University of Queensland students is receiving their certificate of participation from Prof. Yoshio Hisaeda, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering.

Farewell Luncheon

To mark the end of two busy weeks and celebrate the strengthened bond between parties in Japan and Australia, a farewell party was held. Students shared their experiences and thoughts with each other during the buffet lunch.

(left)Prof Sho Matsumura,,Vice Dean of Faculty of Engennering, gave a speech.  (right)The farewell luncheon marks on great opportunity for new friendship.

Thanks

The staff of the International Education Support Center for Engineering would like to sincerely thank the lecturers for their kind support of this program and the companies involved for allowing us to visit their factories and museums, helping to make this program a great success. We also thank the representatives and tour-guides for taking the time to introduce the facilities and answering questions from students. Special thanks are also directed to the distinguished guests and members of the Australian Consul-General Fukuoka who made time in their busy schedules to help inspire the visiting students and ensure that all could take home comprehensive understanding of Kyushu; both the University and the region as a whole. This year, despite starting under unusually poor weather conditions, the participating students were able to attend lectures and visit representative industries in Kyushu, covering a wide range of engineering fields. The students were able to gain a sense of the current status of Japanese engineering technology and the history of its development, as well as learning about Japanese business culture.

The University of Queensland-Japan program for Industry Experience (UQ-JPIE)

Overview

This was an intensive 2-week program supported by the New Colombo Plan of the Australian government and held in July 2017, designed to give selected Australian student engineers from the University of Queensland the opportunity to learn about the world-leading research and industries of Japan. During this program, 15 students attended seminars on cutting-edge engineering research at Kyushu University and conducted visits to leading Japanese industries, either based or with a large presence in the Kyushu area, such as TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU,Inc. and YASKAWA Electric Corporation. Furthermore, the students had the opportunity to study about Japanese Business Culture and become familiar with the Kyushu area in general.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on Monday 3rd of July. Distinguished guests present included Prof. Chiharu Kubo, president of Kyushu University and Mr. Ian Brazier, Australian Consul-General Fukuoka.

(left) President of Kyushu University, Dr. Chiharu Kubo, gives a speech at the opening ceremony; (middle) Dean of the School of Engineering, Prof. Hiroshi Takamatsu, gives a speech at the opening ceremony; (right) A small lunch-party held after the ceremony to welcome the students.

Lectures: Industry pre-visit seminars

To prepare students for site visits, a series of 4 lectures from faculty specialist in relevant areas were given, such as a seminar about the Steel Industry by Prof. Ko-ichiro Ohno and Prof. Noritaka Saito. Here students were able to gain important background understanding to enable them to get the most out of their industrial visits.

(left) Students with Prof. Ryo Kurazume and a robot during the robotics pre-visit seminar; (right) A demonstration during the seminar by Prof. Katsuro Hayashi about ceramic technology.

Prof. Koji Gotoh gives students an introduction to LNG carriers and hull construction, prior to the visit to the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Lectures: World-leading research at Kyushu University

To exemplify the world-leading research being carried out at the School and Faculty of Engineering, students attended a number of seminars and lab visits with leading faculty members, including an introduction to urban Engineering and management with Prof. Shunsuke Managi and an overview of the mining history of Japan with Prof. Koichiro Watanabe.

(left) Dr. Potscavage explains to students during a tour of the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA); (right) Prof. Syo Matsumura gives a lecture about electron microscopy research being carried out at Kyushu University.

Students have a lab tour with Assoc. Prof. Stephen Lyth, including a visit to Hydrogen storage facilities.

Special lecture series on Japanese industry

In addition to lectures related to the specific industries to be visited by the students, Prof. Kazuhide Ohta gave a 5-part mini course covering the history of Japanese industry and its context in the modern era.

Special lectures on Japanese business customs

As part of its rich cultural heritage, Japan has developed a somewhat unique approach to inter-personal communication during business. In order to give students an in-depth understanding of the business customs of Japan and insight into their origins, Ms. Miwa Gen from the Association of Independent Entrepreneurs gave a double-lecture including many hands-on practise activities. The students were then able to apply the skills learnt when interacting with company representatives during site visits.

Visit to the Kyushu Economic Federation

In order to gain in-depth knowledge about industry in the Kyushu region, students were kindly welcomed by the Kyushu Economic Federation in Tenjin to take part in the Kyushu Experience and Explore Program. Here the students had the opportunity to learn important background information not only about the Kyushu area and its industry but also its links to Australia, as outlined including a lecture by Mr. Ian Brazier of the Australian Consul-General Fukuoka. Time was also given over to free discussion and networking.

Students gather for a group photo with the Mr. Yutaka Aso, Chairman of the Kyushu Economic Federation (front row, third from left), Mr. Masaki Nishi of Kyushu Electric Power Co., INC. (far left) as well as Prof. John Chen, director of the International Education Support Center for Engineering at Kyushu University (far right).

Industry visits

In order to expose the visiting University of Queensland students to the wealth of industry that Japan, and particularly the Kyushu area, has to offer, a number of industry visits were arranged, including Hitachi Ltd. Rail System Company, Kasado Works and TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU, INC.

(left) Students compete against a robot in the YASKAWA Electric Corporation Miraikan; (right) Group photo at Hitachi Ltd. Rail System Company, Kasado Works.

TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU, INC. is home to the Lexus, and students had the opportunity to see this car being produced and learn about the philosophies underlying the construction process.

Students not only had the opportunity to visit the TOTO LTD. to see the ceramic products being built, but also had a tour of the recently-opened  TOTO museum, showcasing the history of TOTO LTD. since its founding over 100 years ago.

Students pose with large cranes at the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Students also had the opportunity to visit NIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO METAL CORPORATION YAHATA WORKS in Kitakyushu city.

Introduction to the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering course at Kyushu University

In addition to learning about the wide variety of industry in Japan, students also learned about the host institution, Kyushu University, and the courses and laboratories in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Special lecture by Prof. David Mee of the University of Queensland

Prof. David Mee of the University of Queensland gave a special lecture to Kyushu University Aerospace students.

(left) Students from the University of Queensland reflect on their 2-week experience on the JPIE program; (right) One of the University of Queensland students receiving their certificate of participation from Prof. John Chen, Director of the International Education Support Center for Engineering.

Farewell party

To mark the end of two busy weeks and celebrate the strengthened bond between parties in Japan and Australia, a farewell party was held.

Thanks

The staff of the International Education Support Center for Engineering would like to sincerely thank the lecturers for their kind support of this program and the companies involved for allowing us to visit their factories and museums, helping to make this program a great success. We also thank the representatives and tour-guides for taking the time to introduce the facilities and answering questions from students. Special thanks are also directed to the distinguished guests and members of the Kyushu Economic Federation who made time in their busy schedules to help inspire the visiting students and ensure that all could take home comprehensive understanding of Kyushu; both the University and the region as a whole.