2021年3月12日 本学留学生2名（韓国出身、ジンバブエ出身）と在学生9名がリモートで交流しました。今回は3か国の教育事情について、「義務教育から就職に至るまで」をテーマとし、スライドを用いてそれぞれの国の教育制度、教科、入試、インターン事情、人気の職業などを発表し合い、ディスカッションへと進みました。韓国の進学高校では自立学習制度という名のもと、朝9時から夜6時までの授業の後、夜給食を挟んで11時までずっと校内で勉強をするのだそうです。入試は大学入学時のみということから、そこに焦点を絞って熱烈な競争があるようです。ジンバブエではイギリスの教育システムが取り入れられており、大学入試はないものの、義務教育（中等教育16歳まで）の成績で入学の可否が決まるとの事。高校入試や大学入試を経験する日本とはずいぶん事情が異なります。生活面での質問では私達日本人が当たり前と思っていることが留学生にとっては、驚きであったり、不思議であったりと、興味深い話がたくさんあがり、あっという間にお開きの時間となりました。参加学生にとっては、まだまだ聞き足りないことがあったようですが、続きはぜひ学内で直接聞いてほしいと思います。今回のONLINE交流をきっかけとし、それぞれが充実した学生生活の一場面を作っていくことを願っています。

On March 12, 2021, two international students from our university (from Korea and Zimbabwe) and nine current students had a remote exchange. The theme of the exchange was “various topic ranging from compulsory education to employment”. In this exchange, the guest speakers presented the educational systems, subjects, entrance exams, internship situations, and popular occupations of their respective countries using slides, and then proceeded with discussions. We found out that under the name of “independent study system”, students in Korean high schools study from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and then study in the school until 11:00 p.m. after dinner. Since the only entrance exam is for university admission, there seems to be fervent competition focused on that. In Zimbabwe, the British education system has been embraced, and although there is no university entrance exam, the results of compulsory education (secondary education up to the age of 16) determine whether or not students are admitted. The situation is quite different from Japan, where you have to go through high school and university entrance exams. When we asked speakers about their present daily life, there were many interesting things that we Japanese take for granted that were surprising or strange to them, and it wasn’t long before we had to end the session. It seemed that there were still some things that the participating students had not heard enough about, but we hope that they will be able to find out in the the near future. Also, we hope that this online exchange will be a useful tool for students to widen their view of the world.