"Kobe University Week 2009"the annual international event organized by the Office for the Promotion of International Exchange, Kobe University (OPIE-KU) was held in the newly renovated Kobe University IDEMITSU SAZO Memorial Rokkodai Auditorium from November 24 to 26. This year's event was held under the auspices of the German Consulate General Osaka-Kobe, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), European Union (EU) Delegation of the European Commission to Japan, EU Institute in Japan (EUIJ), Kansai, Kobe Shimbun Co., Ltd., Yomiuri Shimbun Co., Ltd. (Osaka Head Office).

Starting from the "EU Week" held in 2003, this international event is a part of the university's continuous effort to strive for global excellence in research and education, as it is stated in the "Kobe University Vision 2015". In the opening address delivered by President FUKUDA Hideki on November 24, he said, "I sincerely hope that "Kobe University Week 2009" will bring about free and serious discussion between Japan and overseas, universities and companies, students and teachers through mutual collaboration. I also hope that the "Kobe University Week 2009" will become the spring board to transfer us from the "Change Phase" to the "Challenge Phase" as stated in the "Kobe University Vision 2015". This address was followed by a congratulatory speech by Mr. Stefan Biedermann, the Deputy Consul-General of the German Consulate General Osaka-Kobe. Mr. Biedermann spoke in fluent Japanese about his experience in Kyoto as a scholarship funded student. He then went on to say how alarmed he was to find that less and less Japanese students go abroad to study or even take a vacation. Though the younger generation is fond of surfing the net to gain knowledge, he said the net does not make up for the real thing and urged students to go abroad. The final speech of the Opening Ceremony was delivered by Dr. NAKAMURA Chiharu, Vice President/Director of OPIE-KU. In his speech, he expressed hope that this three-day event will provide Kobe University an opportunity to not only learn but also leap forward to achieve Global Excellence in education through exchanges of opinions.

After a short recess, an international symposium titled, "Development of Globally Sought After Human Resources (HR) and Strategies for Overseas Study" was held. Three keynote lectures were delivered by domestic and international guest speakers. The first was Mr. HAGINO Michiyoshi, a Kobe University Alumni and the former Senior Managing Director of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. His lecture was about "HR most sought after by Corporates". The next lecture was from Dr. Christian Bode, the Secretary-General of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) on "internationalization as key element of individual human development, of institutional strategies and of higher education policies".

The final lecture titled, "Erasmus Mundus and Study Abroad Strategies", was delivered by Ms. Marie-Hélène VAREILLE, the Deputy Head of Press, Public, Cultural Affairs Section, Delegation of the European Commission to Japan. The final event of the day was a panel discussion. The panelists were the three keynote speakers and two new members ; Mr. Kentaro KAKIHANA, the Team Leader of Global Recruitment Team in Global Recruitment Center, Panasonic Corporation and Prof. Tatsuo KAWASHIMA from the Institute for Promotion of Higher Education, Kobe University. In the 40 minutes time frame, the panelists discussed their views on ‘how to achieve global excellence in the educational setting’ and answered questions from the audience.

In addition to the events which are mentioned in this article, academic symposiums and student panel discussion took place in a variety of fields on campus throughout the event .