Students of Japan-based universities visited the Philippine-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) to tour the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation (Sharing) facilities.
Dr. Glenn Gregorio, SEARCA director, said the Japanese students were from Japan's Nagasaki University (NU) in Nagasaki and Kobe University (KU) in Hyogo.
Gregorio said the visit was part of the course, which was designed to engage the Japanese students in activities that would expand their knowledge of Philippine agriculture and Filipino culture.
On March 1, 2023, seven NU students visited SEARCA. They were accompanied by Dr. Yoko Ida, an Economics professor at NU, and Assistant Professor Juan Paulino Trespalacio Jr. of the University of the Philippines Los Baños Department of Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship (UPLB-DAME).
A partnership between NU and UPLB-DAME, their activity was part of their Global Social Responsibility or GSR Short-Term Study Program, which is intended to enrich the students' understanding of Philippine business, culture, economy and entrepreneurship through site field visitations.
SEARCA Emerging Innovation for Growth Department (EIGD) facilitators said the students engaged in hands-on training on agri-robotics using Lego robotics kit at SEARCA's Sharing Café.
Also on March 3, 2023, SEARCA was visited by 20 KU students who are undertaking a three-week English Plus Course under the UPLB Language Instruction Toward Excellence (LITE) Program.
They were accompanied by Dr. Kengo Kanamaru, associate professor of KU Graduate School of Agricultural Science, and Assistant Professor Jerard Ancel Eusebio, also assistant coordinator of the Lite program.