虎扑电竞

Thirteen more students have been awarded the prestigious Global Hagi Scholarship for 2024, as they each prepare to study abroad at Tohoku University's partner institutions. This brings the total number for the year to 38.

At the ceremony, held on December 18 at Katahira campus, Executive Vice President for Education and Student Support Hirotsugu Takizawa congratulated the award recipients and encouraged them to use their time abroad to "acquire the qualities to be global citizens who can play active roles in international society."

By studying abroad, he said, students have the chance to not only deepen their academic expertise but also develop a broader mindset. "The ability to understand different cultures, to respect diverse values, to think and act independently and to respond flexibly to challenges will be indispensable qualities as the world becomes increasingly globalized."

Vice President for Social Outreach and head of the Tohoku University Fund Tetsuya Nagasaka then handed out the awards.

Hikari Okamoto, a second-year undergraduate at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, gave a speech on behalf of the award recipients. She spoke of her life-long interest in learning English, and desire to "experience life overseas as I saw it in movies, TV dramas and books."

Headed to the University of East Anglia next year, Okamoto said that she plans to study the history and role of women in British society, to better understand why there are many more successful female authors there (in all genres), than there are in Japan.

"It is said that Japan lags behind other countries in the advancement of women in society, not only in the field of literature, but also on the internation stage," she said. "My ultimate goal is to find ways for the further advancement of women in Japan through learning about the activities of British female writers."

Like many students who go abroad, Okamoto also hopes to also learn more about herself.

"Last year, I learnt about Japanese communication in an international co-curricular class, and it made me wonder if being introverted and not wanting to assert our own opinions is a Japanese flaw that needs to be corrected in global communication? I hope to find an answer that makes sense to me through my interactions with people from other backgrounds during my time abroad."

The Global Hagi Scholarship is awarded twice a year to students with excellent academic records, who are also deemed to be good ambassadors for the university. It was established in 2010 and is supported by the Tohoku University Fund.