On November 10th, a group consisting of 16 high school students from Malaysia (Seri Puteri High School・MRSM Alor Gajah High School), 2 supervising teachers from Malaysia, and 18 selected Nara high school students visited the NAIST Open Campus 2013, as part of the "Japan-Malaysia Exchange Project 2013～ Find Broaden the World and the Future," held by the National Soni Youth Outdoor Learning Center. (Commissioned by MEXT) The aim of this visit was to cultivate a deeper understanding of NAIST as well as Japan.

Before the laboratory tours, a general introduction of NAIST was given by Vice President Dr. Kataoka and the students attentively listened to the explanations of the cutting-edge research performed at our graduate schools and the student's daily lives at NAIST.

Following this, with the help of six international students from Malaysia studying here at NAIST, the group went to visit laboratory booths held for the Open Campus to cultivate a deeper understanding of our rich research environment and exciting research. The students viewed the demonstration of a robot that can imitate human facial expression, looked through an electron microscope to see crystalized proteins, and listened to explanations about how white LED's work, showing interest in many different booths and enjoying their time in the busy open campus event. They also visited Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and NEC Corporation, and learned about these Japanese companies. The visiting students showed much interest and asked many questions about various research and technology topics.

After the tour, a representative of the Malaysian high school expressed her gratitude towards NAIST faculty and staff. Their visit to NAIST as part of the MEXT commissioned program was a meaningful experience for all those involved.