On Friday, May 12, a signing ceremony was held on Suzaku Campus with representatives from the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST). Dr. Amr Adly, the President of E-JUST, and President of Ritsumeikan University Yoshio Nakatani signed a renewed cooperation agreement, which was first concluded in 2011, as well as a new student exchange agreement.

　The ceremony was also attended by Masaaki Professor Suzuki, the first vice president of E-JUST, E-JUST Center of Innovative Technology Manager Noha Afifi, and Takasei Okano, Chief Advisor of the E-JUST Project for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and it was emceed by Professor Takamoto Itoh, the Associate Dean of International Affairs at Ritsumeikan University.

　Since signing a service agreement in May 2017 with JICA, Ritsumeikan University has continued to provide support to E-JUST by sending staff to the university and conducting training sessions. President Nakatani, who is involved in the university administration of E-JUST, has also worked to fortify ties between the two universities since being appointed to the E-JUST Board of Trustees in July 2019. With this new agreement, E-JUST becomes Ritsumeikan University’s first student exchange partner in Egypt. Going forward, the partnership between the two universities will be further developed through the active exchange of students as well as faculty and staff.