On February 8th, under the sponsorship of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), with whom our university signed an academic agreement on December 26th last year, university educators involved in planning and implementing “Communiversity” in Asia, Oceania, and Africa gathered to report on practical cases and exchange opinions.

At the beginning,　Tan Sri Dato’ Zulkifli Abdul Razak, Rector, IIUM mentioned the importance of constructing an alternative perspective for university evaluation that is not found in current university rankings, namely, "Contribution of universities to the local community."

Professor Sugimoto informed the participants about the academic agreement signed between the two universities on December 26th of last year and then introduced Soka University's community and industry-academia collaboration efforts, as well as the initiatives taken by the Faculty of International Liberal Arts through short-term research in Malaysia aimed at overcoming social issues in local communities.

Professor Sugimoto expressed his impressions, saying, "I was impressed by the active presentations and discussions on the role of universities for enhancing the local communities around the world. I realized that there are many things that can be practiced specifically at Soka University and FILA.”