Ogawa seminar students participated in the Campus Asia Plus Short-term Exchange Study Program at the National University of Laos 2024

Professor Ogawa Seminar students, Emika Nishikawa, Touch Visal, Nakyung Kim, Miyoko Watanabe, Kyoko Okamoto, and Aoi Nakagawa, participated in the Campus Asia Plus short-term exchange study program at the National University of Laos (NUOL) from August 18th to September 15th 2024. As part of this program, the students participated in a one-week intensive course at NUOL, followed by a three-week internship at the Ministry of Education and Sports, Lao PDR. This marks the third year of the Campus Asia Plus Program, with students from Kobe University and Korea University joining the intensive courses together this year.

In the intensive course on “Advanced Development Economics”, seven professors from the Faculty of Economics and Business Management at NUOL generously provided five days of lectures. This advanced development economics course covered a variety of topics centered on issues in Laos, helping us deepen our understanding of advanced development economics. Key topics included in inflation, trade tensions between the US and China, entrepreneurship, economic policies, economic transformation, all within the context of Lao PDR.

During the internship at the Ministry of Education and Sports, we had invaluable opportunities to enhance and sharpen our research skills through on-site activities and document reviews. We engaged in meetings with the representatives from the Japanese Embassy, the JICA Laos office, the World Bank, ADB, UNESCO, and UNICEF and discussed current development issues in Laos with experts. Additionally, we visited an elementary and a high school in Vientiane, where we met with principals and teachers. These insightful discussions gave us a deeper understanding of education development in Laos.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our academic supervisor, Professor Keiichi Ogawa for his tremendous support and warmest encouragement; the professors at the Faculty of Economics and Business Management for their outstanding lectures; Dr. Bounpanh Xaymountry; Director of the Department of Planning for welcoming us as interns; Mr. Anoupheng Keovongsa, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Education and Sports for his thoughtful support and arrangements; Mr. Vongvilay Sounthavong for his warm and kind assistance; Mr. Masato Nakahara, Assistant Professor of Campus Asia Office and Ms. Mikiko Bothra Osaka for their warm support for the Campus Asia students.

Authored by Emika Nishikawa (Master’s Student)