November 2, 2018
On October 23 Kobe University held an Overseas Advisory Board meeting at our office in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was attended by Board members His Excellency Mr. Herman Van Rompuy (former President of the European Council), Professor Roger Goodman (Warden of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford) and Professor Jiří Drahoš (former President of the Czech Academy of Sciences).
The meeting was chaired by Professor Ken-ichi Yoshida (Executive Director of the Brussels European Centre). It began with a report from Kobe University President Professor Hiroshi Takeda on the composition of the Board and the contents of the previous Overseas Advisory Board meeting, which took place on February 6 at our Honolulu office, and was attended by board member Professor Shuji Nakamura (University of California, Santa Barbara). This was followed by presentations on Kobe University’s SDGs initiatives and international exchange activities during this academic year from Professor Matsuto Ogawa (Executive Vice President in Charge of Research and Industry-University Cooperation) and Professor Noriyuki Inoue (Executive Vice President in Charge of International Exchange) respectively. Kobe University Brussels European Centre Advisor Patrick Vittet-Philippe then reported on the Brussels office activities for this academic year.
Following this, the three Board members offered their opinions on the establishment and management of overseas offices, international student numbers at Kobe University, initiatives to increase the amount of international co-authored papers and performance evaluation of faculty members. Their thoughtful evaluations included comparisons with their own institutions.
Kobe University will continue to hold Advisory Board meetings in our overseas offices, and work to further strengthen our governance.

(International Affairs Planning Division)