From October 3^rd (Tuesday) to October 5^th (Thursday), 2023, Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger, President and Prof. Dr. Kyle G. Webber, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany, which is our partner university, visited NITech.

In 2009, starting from department level partnerships in Ceramics field between FAU and NITech, we concluded university level partnerships in 2011. In addition, in 2013 NITech established the Liaison Office on the FAU campus. We have built a very close relationship in both education and research through mutual exchanges of more than 400 faculty, administrative staff and students.

In recent years, in 2019, the project "Energy Conversion Systems: From Materials to Devices" with FAU was selected as the Japanese-German Graduate Externship (JGGE) by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and NITech has been promoting faculty and student exchanges, and international joint research on university-level. Based on these achievements, we will establish "Nagoya Institute of Technology and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Joint Degree Doctoral Program in Energy Conversion Systems", Joint Degree (JD) Program, jointly with FAU in April 2024. This is the first JD program between Japan and Germany in the doctoral course in engineering field. Both universities will work together to foster innovation leaders who will transform society from an international perspective, with the aim of creating a carbon-neutral society.

This is the first FAU president's visit to NITech, and this has been made as a result of the accumulated exchanges between FAU and NITech so far. During the courtesy meeting, President Hornegger had a lively discussion with 4 members including Dr. KINOSHITA Takatoshi, President of NITech, Dr. OBATA Makoto, Executive Director, Vice President of NITech about the importance of industry-academia collaboration as universities located in industrial clusters, and how diversity and international collaboration are important sources for the development of education and research etc. On the next day, NITech introduced its research in Computer Science, which is a President Hornegger's major. Additionally, the exchange meeting with 11 students specialized in Computer Science was held. A warm message based on his experience was given to the students who will play important roles in the future. Furthermore, since FAU has active industry-academia collaborations, President Hornegger visited Niterra Co., Ltd., an Aichi local company with strong ties with NITech and exchanged opinions on future international industry-academia collaborations and how they will affect educational programs.

NITech will continue to deepen its collaboration with FAU, strive to foster global human resources, and develop international joint research.

From the left, Prof. Dr. KAKIMOTO Ken-ichi (Vice President, Director of NITech FAU Liaison Office),
Prof. Dr. Kyle G. Webber (FAU), Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger (President of FAU),
Dr. KINOSHITA Takatoshi (President), Dr. OBATA Makoto (Executive Director, Vice President),
Prof. Dr. IDO Yasushi (Vice President)



President Hornegger and NITech Students of IT field in the Exchange Meeting



Visit to Local Company

Japanese-German Graduate Externship (JGGE) by JSPS
International Research Training Group (IRTG) by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Joint Degree Doctoral Program in Energy Conversion Systems


JGGE/IRTG is implemented jointly by NITech, supported the JSPS, and FAU, supported by the DFG.