On November 4, 2025, Prof. Damien Fabregue, Vice President (for European and International Relations) of France’s INSA Lyon and Ms. Paulina Berganza Becerra, International Attractiveness Development Manager for the Lyon-St Etienne College of Engineering*, visited Tohoku University and met with EVP (for General Affairs, International Relations, and Academic Resources) Prof. Toshiya Ueki and Vice President (for Education Reform and Global Engagement) Masahiro Yamaguchi.
During their meeting, they discussed the ‘Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters’ (hereinafter referred to as EMJM) program, an international master’s program provided by the European Union that offers high-level learning opportunities to students around the world. They also discussed potential Lyon-St. Etienne College of Engineering collaborations, led by INSA Lyon and Tohoku University under the EMJM program. Tohoku University’s outstanding research capabilities, as well as its long-standing relationship of exchange with INSA Lyon in research and education, led to the idea of Tohoku University becoming a strategic partner in the program. The meeting members proactively discussed how to realize this partnership, student exchange, and program duration.
The same day, the delegation visited ELyTMax and the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering for additional meetings. At the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, they had a lively discussion about potential EMJM collaborations in specific biomedical fields, such as biomaterials and medical imaging, as well as challenges to collaboration, such as the number of years required to obtain a master‘s degree, curriculum design, and methods of student selection.
*The Lyon-St.Etienne College of Engineering includes 4 higher education institutions: École Centrale de Lyon, ENTPE (École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’État), INSA Lyon, and École des Mines Saint-Étienne.
Inquiries:
Global Strategy Office
Tel: 022-217-4844
Email: kokusai-r*grp.tohoku.ac.jp（please replace * with @）