Keio University President Kohei Itoh and Vice-President Motohiro Tsuchiya attended the 27th Annual Presidents' Meeting of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU*), held at the University of Hong Kong from June 25 to 27, 2023. More than 140 participants, including presidents of APRU member universities, gathered and discussed the theme of "Solutions for a Sustainable Future: From Invention to Implementation."
President Itoh participated in the panel discussion "Our Planet, Our Future" on June 26, speaking about the role of universities in promoting sustainability as well as new initiatives and strategies to achieve the SDGs. To highlight some examples of Keio's efforts, he showcased its mentoring program for female faculty members, which was implemented in Keio based on experience gained from participation in the APRU Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Program, and also introduced the Keio SDGs Student Conference.
Furthermore, at the Business Meeting session on June 27, President Itoh was appointed a member of APRU's Steering Committee (as its Japan representative).
*APRU is a network of 60 universities from 19 countries in the Pacific Rim. It was founded in 1997, and Keio has been a member since 2002. There are six member universities from Japan in the APRU network: Kyushu University, Nagoya University, Osaka University, Tohoku University, Waseda University, and Keio University.