On October 11, Prof. Sébastien Le Picard, Vice-President for European and International Strategy at the University of Rennes, visited Tohoku University and met with Executive Vice President Toshiya Ueki and Professor Yuko Nishide of the Graduate School of Economics and Management.
Exchanges between Tohoku University and the University of Rennes began when the Graduate School of Economics and Management signed a department-level exchange agreement with their counterparts in Rennes in 1995. The universities proceeded to conclude a university-level agreement in 2000 and have built a long-standing cooperative relationship in fields such as physics and chemistry. During this visit, Prof. Le Picard stated that the University of Rennes intends to deepen exchanges with industry, academia, and government by taking advantage of the international sister city relationship that Sendai and Rennes enjoy. Executive Vice President Toshiya Ueki said that he looks forward to working on collaborations between the two universities.
Prior to his meeting with EVP Ueki and Professor Nishide, Prof. Le Picard visited the laboratory of Professor Shinichiro Iwai of the Graduate School of Science, where he was given a tour of the laboratory facilities.
He then met with Specially Appointed Professor Masahiko Hayasaka, the Deputy Director-General of the Startup Incubation Center, and Specially Appointed Associate Professor Mika Sakai. They introduced the Aobayama Garage and explained the university’s startup initiatives, and they also discussed initiatives taking place at the University of Rennes with Prof. Le Picard.
Thereafter, Prof. Le Picard met with Vice President Yamaguchi Masahiro, Professor Kazuko Suematsu of the Institute for Excellence in Higher Education, Prof. Atsushi Hozawa, and Prof. Naoto Ishii, Dean of the Graduate School of Medicine, to discuss the possibility of student exchanges.
