Resiliency of Academic Activities for
Global Citizenship at University ofTsukuba in Response to COVID 19Dr. NOMURA Nakao
Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Taiwan, Office of Global Initiatives
Director, Division of International Exchange Support, Global Commons
Associate Professor, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
University of Tsukuba, JAPANCOVID19 in Japan and actions taken
by public sectors
Total number of patients confirmed as COVID-19 positive- 1st wave April, 202, 2nd wave: August 2020, 3rd wave: January, 2021
- As of today, still daily more than 100 new positive cases reported.

80006000Declaration of State of Emergency by the Prime Minster (Apr-7 2020, Jan-7 2021)- Applied to prefectures with high number of infection cases in Japan- designation of 9-13 prefectures with higher number of infected patients as4000
S ecial Ale P efec e- Promotion of 3Cs practices (Closed spaces, Crowded places, Close-contactsettings )2000- No lockdown, just official request/warning from public sectors

Postponement of Tokyo Olympic for 1 year
JanFebMar

AprMayJun2020

JulAugSepOctNov

Seriously Sick Patients
Daily Confirmed Cases
Cumulative Number of Death

DecJanFeb2021

Actions by HEIs
☞ Japanese academic calendar:from April until Marchwith semester system (spring semester (Apr-) and fall semester (Oct-))☞ Risk level in Overseas Travel Safety Information by Ministry of Foreign Affairs(https://www.anzen.mofa.go.jp/masters/explanation.pdf)
2: stop dispatching students
3: stop dispatching faculties and students- Start of new academic year was postponed around 1 month in most HEIs
- Courses in Spring semester are provided thru online or e-learning system in most HEIs
- Security issues related publicity/IPs in courses thru online was emphasized to bothstudents and course instructors before start of semester.
- Re-scheduling of courses which cannot be provided thru online such as those including
practical lessons (medicines, physical education, agricultures etc.)- All exchange students who registered for Spring semester cancelled registration andsome postponed to Fall semester.
- Requesting ongoing outbound students to return to Japan as MOFA increase risk level of
all f eign c n ie3

Risk level in Overseas Travel Safety Information by Ministry of Foreign Affairs
https://www.anzen.mofa.go.jp/

Risk level 1
Risk level 2
Risk level 3
Risk level 4

Infectious disease risk

General risk

Actions by HEIs (Students support)☞ Freshmen students from overseas
Instruction thru online (admission orientation, most of courses as well as mental health support)☞ International Students graduated on March 2020
Providing student status without additional tuition fees and University student residence
Extension of government scholarship (April, May)
☞ Outbound students who returned to Japan by following request from University
Financial support for travel cost for emergency returning to Japan
Continuation of scholarship for study abroad in case student continue taking courses provided by hostuniversities thru online☞ Financial aid for students
By University of Tsukuba: financially challenged degree-students in University of Tsukuba
By Japanese government: all people lining in Japan including foreign citizen with living address and RC(residence card) in Japan (amount of 100,000 JPY(about 940USD) per person, as of Apr-27).

Activities with ASEAN in UT☞ AIMS programme
Inbound:Spring semester, Apr, 2020～

all cancelled

Fall semester, Oct, 2020～

all cancelled

Spring semester, Apr, 2021 ～on line

Outbound:All students abroad returned to Japan by the end of April 2020
Applications for next semester are in processes.
☞ SEA teachers: Pilot study with 3 partner universities (CLSU-PH, KKU-TH, UPI-ID) on Feb, 2020
Inbound: 3-week in Affiliated High School, 1-week in UT (6 students)
Outbound: 1-month in partner universities (2 in each partner university)
Analytical studies ongoing (impact on students, institutions, faculties)
Results will be shared in next evaluation meeting.
7

Experiences from Great East Japan Earthquake• Increase in demand for science and technology related withissues caused by current issues• Hopelessness in students mindset• Necessary for more student support in terms of finance andmental health9

Recommendations• Clarification of nece aH man Receca aci

c m e ence fGl bal• Understand Student Mobility as one of the means tone Gl bal H man Re
ce and e abli h new KPIs
to achieve necessary capacity/competence• Explore cross-disciplinary approaches to solve issues
related with COVID-19 and apply obtained outcomes tocope with Industry 4.0 or Society5.010Thank you very much!

う あ が うござい す。