The 50th Anniversary of Partnership between Keio University and RWTH Aachen University in the Federal Republic of Germany
The cooperative partnership between Keio University and RWTH Aachen University in the Federal Republic of Germany started in 1956. This partnership, which commenced with an agreement in the field of science and technology, expanded to academic exchanges of all university scales attendant upon the university conversion of RWTH Aachen University. This history of cooperation, which spans 50 years of both schools, has led to initiatives in recent international collaboration between the universities, and there have been many research interchanges and personal exchanges between researchers and students to date.
A ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of interchange was held on October 6 hosted by Rector Prof. Dr. Burkhard Rauhut at RWTH Aachen University in the Federal Republic of Germany. The event was a great success, with members of both schools, State Secretary, Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lord Mayor of the City of Aachen, Consul General of Japan, Dusseldorf, and government officials in attendance. Prior to the ceremony, a round-table meeting was held between the delegation from Keio and RWTH Aachen University, including Prof. Dr. E. H. Ichiro Inasaki, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology; Prof. Dr. Shinnosuke Obi, Director of the International Center at Keio; and Prof. Dr. Burkhard Rauhut, Rector of RWTH Aachen University. Representatives from institutions of higher learning in the Federal Republic of Germany also joined the discussion session. Both parties reaffirmed their friendship and their commitment to further strengthening ties between Keio University and RWTH Aachen University.
The Keio-Aachen joint symposium to present the achievements of “The 21st Century COE program[*2] on Life-Conjugated Chemistry (COE-LCC)” was held on October 5, the day before the ceremony. This COE program aims at establishing a center for excellence and education on “Life-Conjugated Chemistry,” which is defined as “chemistry to improve the quality of life, including safety, health, medical care, and comfort,” and has been promoting research on the creation of innovative functional molecules and materials since 2002. With this year being the last year of the research program, 10 researchers and 19 research assistants (the Doctor’s course students) published the fruits of their work from Aachen to the world. The success of the joint symposium presented a concrete path toward the future construction and development of research collaboration between the two universities. Members of COE-LCC also attended the 50th Anniversary ceremony, and the interchange between the young and old, students and [retired] professors, German and Japanese, highlighted this memorable occasion of friendship and international collaboration.
[*1] RWTH Aachen University:
Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen
The RWTH Aachen was founded as a polytechnic institute (Polytechnikum) in 1870 and re-established after World War II as the Institute of Technology of the North Rhine-Westphalia.
[*2] The 21st Century COE program:
This program provided subsidies to Japanese universities to engage in competitive educational and research works on a global basis by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
