(NEWS) Orientation for Record Enrollment of Sasakawa Fellowship Students

October

2017

Orientation for Record Enrolment of Sasakawa Fellowship Students

The Orientation for the new Sasakawa Fellowship Students in the Class of 2018 was held at WMU on 22 September in the Sasakawa Auditorium. The event was hosted by The Nippon Foundation which was represented by Mr. Tsutomu Akita, Senior Specialist on International Maritime Cooperation for the Ocean Policy Research Institute and Mr. Shinichi Ichikawa, Manager of the Ocean Research and Development Department at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

The Sasakawa Fellows Programme provides a network for Sasakawa Fellows to enable them to support their countries in addressing maritime policy challenges and to develop excellence in leadership as well as promote international cooperation. Sasakawa Fellowship Students are expected to take advantage of the experience gained at WMU to resolve challenges that their countries may face, and to build strong human networks to implement positive change in the maritime world as well as society in general.

The Sasakawa Orientation takes place annually to promote connections between the graduating Class and the incoming Sasakawa-sponsored students and to build the foundation for future collaboration. The Class of 2017, with 27 Sasakawa Fellowship Students who will be graduating in November, welcomed the record enrolment Class of 2018 of 30 Sasakawa Fellowship Students. The Orientation enabled the students to set the foundation for expanding the Sasakawa Fellowship network.

The orientation included opening remarks by Mr. Akita who emphasized the importance of making connections with other Sasakawa Fellows to advance the network. Mr. Ichikawa then made a presentation on the history of the Sasakawa Fellows programme, its administration and funding arrangements.

Presentations by senior students were made on the different MSc specializations and their experience of studying at WMU. The new students presented themselves. A reception followed in the WMU World Bistro where WMU President, Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, thanked The Nippon Foundation for their extraordinary, and ongoing support for maritime capacity building through providing fellowships to WMU students.

The Nippon Foundation’s contributions to WMU began in 1987 providing fellowships for WMU students from Asia and Africa. The WMU Sasakawa Fellowship Programme began in 1988. The Nippon Foundation is the largest fellowship donor to the University, providing 25-30 new awards on an annual basis. The 2018 Class of Sasakawa Fellows will bring the total number of Sasakawa Fellows to 581, coming from more than 60 countries.

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