The annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Institution of Higher Learning (ASAIHL) was held at Soka University from June 11 (Sat.) to 12(Sun.) for the second time since March 2018. This was the second time that the annual meeting was held in Japan.
 

Founded in 1956, the ASAIHL aims to contribute to the advancement of education, research, and public services through mutual support among institutions of higher learning in Southeast Asia. Today, ASAIHL is not limited to Southeast Asia, but has expanded to Europe and North America, and is an international academic association with 260 member universities from 26 countries and regions around the world.
Six Japanese universities, including our university, are members, and this time, representatives from Juntendo University participated.

The general meeting was held under the theme of “The Role of Universities in Realizing Inclusiveness and Resilience in a Global Society” as a part of Soka University’s initiatives for the “Top Global University" project initiated by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (sponsored by MEXT and Hachioji City, Japan).
 

On June 10, Acting President of ASAIHL, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nashi along with the Secretary-General Dr. Ninnat Olanvoravuth and Parliamentary Vice-Minister of MEXT, Ms. Takae Ito gave opening remarks, which were followed by keynote speeches delivered by Executive Director of International Tropical Timber Organization (ITO), Ms. Sheam Satkuru and Fujitsu Limited’s Data & Security Research Laboratory Research Unit, Mr. Motoyoshi Sekiya.
 

On March 27, Prof. Tatsuki Toda, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Soka University SATREPS-COSMOS Project leader spoke as a representative speaker. He was then followed by parallel research presentations on higher learning from various countries. The event was attended by over 60 researchers from all over the world.