Oct 02 2020

The Faculty of Engineering, Niigata University conducted a 3-day Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program from Monday, September 14 to Wednesday, September 16 with Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), Cambodia as part of "Co-creative Dormitory-type Group-work for SciTech Students in Japan and Mekong Countries with Regional Collaboration" (G-DORM). COIL is an online learning system to implement collaborative problem-solving projects interacting with students abroad, and this was the first attempt for G-DORM as well as Niigata University.

This program was planned out in place of "G-DORM Short-term Exchange Program in Cambodia", which had been scheduled for the end of the last academic year, and had to be canceled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. In this program, a total of 16 students including 8 students from Niigata University and 8 students from RUPP worked on the theme of "Sci-tech Challenges for SDGs in Post-COVID-19" in 4 groups for 3 days.

Although the program itself was 3-day long, it ended in a rich variety of content including online pre-study and students' interaction in advance using communication apps. In the forum held on the last day, as the achievement of group work, each group presented their ideas about science and technology contributing to SDGs in consideration of the current situation of their home country. The forum was participated through Zoom and YouTube by over 100 faculties and students from not only Niigata University and RUPP but also the G-DORM partner universities, including National University of Laos in Laos, Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, and Hanoi University of Science and Technology in Vietnam. The COIL participants and the forum viewing students were able to share and deepen their learning through an active and multinational discussion. The forum was concluded with great success.

It is expected that such efforts will not only contribute to the activation of remote study abroad, but will also lead to the improvement of the quality of international exchange education through effective combination with conventional study abroad programs. The Faculty of Engineering will continue to promote study abroad programs both onsite and online.

Group work at Niigata University

Online discussion with the students from Cambodia

Live stream of the forum through Zoom/YouTube

Online group photo