Seven students from Wakayama University in Japan recently toured UQ as part of a two-week immersion course in Australian education and culture.
The tech-savvy group visited UQ’s School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies (SLCCS) as part of a longstanding agreement between the two institutions.
While only in Australia for a couple of weeks, the students were kept busy blogging daily – sometimes even hourly – interactive reports in addition to their intensive study program.
Students attended lectures by Dr Shirin Jamarani on culture and cross-cultural communication, participated in an SLCCS Japanese conversation class and toured UQ’s St Lucia campus interviewing local students for content to be used in their blogs and assessment.
Environmentally responsible tourism was a focus of the tour, with the students able to visit Binna Burra Rainforest, Lone Pine Sanctuary and Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort to gain hands-on work experience.
UQ lecturer Dr Kumi Kato, who organised the trip, said she hoped the program would continue to grow in coming years.
On the last Friday of their trip, the group participated in Earth Chapter + 10 Student Environmental Conference as organised by Education Queensland, where Dr Kato was one of the presenters.
To learn more about the students’ experiences, visit their blog at qldstudytrip.blogspot.com
Media: Thomas Dunlop at SLCCS (07 3365 6914, t.dunlop@uq.edu.au)
