Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS), Kobe University
Dear potential and current Ogawa-seminar students. It is my great honor to write this message to you. Let me briefly introduce myself first. I entered GSICS in 2007 and received MA in Economics in 2009. My professional career started at the World Bank HQ in 2008 when I was a second year master student and then I moved to current position (Education Officer in UNICEF Zimbabwe) in 2012 and am going to move next position in next month (Today is May 2014). Along with my career in international organizations, I and one of my senior students in GSICS establish NGO called SarthakShiksha (Meaningful Education in Nepalese) which aims to deliver quality education to disadvantaged children.
When I started my professional career, I did not have confidence to survive in the field of international cooperation because I did not have any international and working experience except in Ogawa-seminar and GSICS (I directly came to GSICS from my undergraduate school and have never been to abroad when I was in the University of Tokyo). However, my years of experience in this field comes to 7 years as of this year. Apparently, this owes to GSICS and Ogawa seminar because they provided me a myriad of experience just within two years. For instance, I went to Malawi University and Ministry of Education in Yemen for internship and attended international academic society meeting in the States as afield study. Weekly seminar was also helpful for me because participants were required to discuss topics in international education and economics of education any languages but Japanese. In addition, Professor Ogawa is such a sophisticated professional that I could learn social skill which is essential for diplomats from him.
Another advantage of GSICS and Ogawa seminar is their strong worldwide network. Once you go out from GSICS, you will realize our strong alumni network. When I went to Washington D.C., alumni was already there and helped me to get used to new environment. Same thing happened in Harare, Zimbabwe also. When you join GSICS, you will find out so many wonderful international students from all over the world. Actually, one of my senior student from Nepal gave me his kindest support to conduct my master thesis research in Kathmandu and in 2012 we established NGO to deliver quality education to disadvantaged children in Nepal. Strong network of GSICS and Ogawa seminar must assist you to survive in this field and find out what you should do with whom.
I would like to write my impression to GSICS and Ogawa seminar as my conclusion. GSICS and Ogawa seminar might be worth to invest some years of your precious life time in. However,the value of them is totally up to how you spend your life in GSICS and Ogawa seminar. If you are proactive enough, you can gain wonderful experience, substantial knowledge, and strong network. Otherwise, you will lose most of chances they provide. I hope you can spend fruitful life in GSICS and Ogawa seminar and can work together to deliver quality education to disadvantaged children in the future.
Shota Hatakeyama
UNICEF Zimbabwe, Education Officer
SarthakShiksha, Board member in charge of education program (Co-Founder)
