A briefing session regarding the 2013 International Faculty Development Program was held on Monday, November 25.

NAIST has been running this program since 2004 to improve teaching and curriculum design among faculty members. Starting this academic year, the two week program (October 21-November 1) was implemented as part of NAIST's "Globalization Strategic Plan 2011".

Six of our faculty members, two from each graduate school, participated in this program. The first week was held at our partner school, University of California, Davis (UCD), and the second week was spent at laboratories in universities and research institutes selected according to participant preferences in order to study and observe hands-on graduate education.

Participant comments included the following: "It was a wonderful opportunity to experience the differences between teaching methods in Japan and in the United States and to reflect back on how to apply it here", and "It was a great opportunity to meet with other faculty members, and I would like to make use of this experience to increase my impact as an educator."

The session was concluded with encouraging comments from President Naotake Ogasawara, echoed by executive board members, that he hopes participants will make use of what they acquired through this program to enhance the quality of education and NAIST globalization more broadly.