SCU hosts leading Japanese Uni Students

A group of 25 undergraduate students from one of Japan's leading universities, the central Tokyo-based Aoyama Gakuin, will start a three-weeks' visit to the North Coast this Monday, 25 February. During their stay, the students, who are undertaking an intensive English Language Program offered by Southern Cross University, will be accommodated under homestay arrangements provided by local families.

The visiting students will sightsee in the local area as well as visit Gold Coast attractions such as Sea World and Currumbin, and spend time at schools in Byron Bay, Ballina and Lismore with which SCU's School of Education has close links.

On the morning of Friday, 1 March the Japanese group will be hosted by one of the area's many appealing rural schools, Pearces Creek Public School, where Principal, Mr. Peter Hudson, has arranged a softball game pitting the visitors against the school's senior class.

Other events on their agenda will be talks from the NSW Parks & Wildlife Service, a tour of SCU's Lismore campus, and a visit to a local tea tree factory.

"As well as giving the visitors some excellent opportunities to practise their English skills, the local school visits will enable our own children to meet some very approachable young ambassadors from Japan," said the Head of SCU's School of Education, Professor Martin Hayden. "Cultural exchanges of this kind can lead to important, ongoing relationships between this region and Japan, particularly in the expanding field of school and tertiary education".

Recently an SCU final year student was awarded a one-year scholarship, worth around $14,000, to study at Aoyama Gakuin University, while several SCU graduates have accepted teaching jobs at Japanese universities in the past year.

Media please note: Your attendance would be welcomed at the softball game at Pearces Creek P.S., from 9.30am, Friday March 1. Good photo/vision opportunity!