NEWS

From August 6 (Thu.) to 8 (Sat.), 2026, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) hosted the Multicultural Collaborative Learning Student Assistant (SA) Conference, bringing together students from four universities: APU, Meiji University, Tohoku University, and Kyushu Institute of Technology.

The conference was held as part of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)’s Social Impact Creation Support Project through University Internationalization (SI Project). It aimed to provide an opportunity for SAs to share their educational practices and challenges and learn from one another beyond the boundaries of their respective universities.

In the 2025 academic year, APU and Meiji University conducted a pilot program, engaging in active discussions and practical activities related to SA programs and training. In 2026, Tohoku University and Kyushu Institute of Technology joined the initiative, expanding the conference into a collaborative learning platform for students from four universities.

Over the three-day conference, participants first learned about Cultural Intelligence (CQ) through a lecture by Dr. Michael Goh of the University of Minnesota. They then explored the four dimensions of CQ—Drive, Knowledge, Strategy, and Action—through case studies and an experiential workshop based on actual examples from APU, considering how CQ could be applied to their SA activities. On the final day, participants reflected on their learning and developed ideas for putting CQ into practice at their respective universities, which they presented to the group.

The conference provided an opportunity for participants to share practices and challenges from their respective universities, consider approaches to multicultural collaborative learning through SA activities suited to each university’s environment, and deepen learning and exchange among students across institutional boundaries.

For APU, the conference also provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on its own practices through dialogue with students and faculty from other universities, while exploring ways to further enhance SA development and multicultural collaborative learning in the future.