Report 3: MJIIT-Sophia Cultural Exchange Session

The MJIIT-Sophia Cultural Exchange Event is an online effort that aims to build trust and understanding between university students from Malaysia and Japan in order to promote friendship and cooperation over the long run. While SOPHIA is referred to as Sophia University, the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) is referred to as one of the faculties of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Students from Malaysia and Japan are invited to individually or in groups provide information about their respective nations. There were 27 students from MJIIT and 25 from Sophia University.

Facilitator

The Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) established the Japanese Language and Cultural Centre to provide students with the opportunity to participate in educational programmes, experience Japanese culture, hone their creative abilities, and broaden their understanding of other cultures. The JLCC's MJIIT-SOPHIA Exchange Session is one of its programmes. This curriculum is made available online as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Through the online meeting tool ZOOM, JLCC was able to organise a cultural exchange event. At the event, there were 27 students from MJIIT and 25 students from Sophia University who presented, respectively.

Through a discussion between students from MJIIT and Sophia University, this programme aims to help students comprehend the trends and problems facing higher education globally. The presentation by MJIIT students focused on Malaysia's country and culture, higher education system, and overview of MJIIT and student life, while the presentation by Sophia University students focused on Japan's country and culture, higher education system, and overview of Sophia University and student life, with emphasis on changes under the COVID-19 outbreak. 

I developed my cooperation and communication skills throughout this program while preparing for the presentation. As the program's presenters, it is difficult for us to introduce Malaysia and our culture in the allotted time because we have various races and cultural kinds in Malaysia than in Japan. After we finished presenting our slides, the Sophia University students showed a lot of interest in the variety of laksas we had described. They thought we did a great job of introducing Malaysian cuisine to people from other countries like them and creating interest in them to visit Malaysia one day. The Sophia University students acknowledged during the discussion that it is still challenging for female students in Japan to enroll in public universities.