Nagoya University Exchange Scheme

St John’s College has an annual Exchange Programme with Nagoya University in Japan. This cultural/academic Exchange Programme allows 6 undergraduate students from St John’s to visit Nagoya University and spend 2 weeks in Japan. The aim of the programme is to broaden the social horizons of students and allow them to gain insight into the history, culture and traditions of Japan.

Programme Details

Eligibility

Undergraduate students from all year groups (including finalists) and across all subjects are invited to apply. The selection is done on the basis of academic excellence. The benefits that each student would derive from their participation in the Nagoya exchange is also taken into account. 

Dates 2024

St John’s students are invited to visit Japan from Wednesday 3rd July until Wednesday 17th July 2024.

Interdisciplinary Project

The successful students will be asked to work with the exchange students from Nagoya University together as a group on one single interdisciplinary project. They will present their project work at an event which will take place at Nagoya University in July. The exchange students will receive further guidance about the project from the College after they are selected. 

Requirements

All exchange students are required to participate in the exchange activities organised by Nagoya University, unless it is clearly stated that participation is optional.

Activities
  • Course Lectures: St John's students can attend lectures at Nagoya University; the list of Faculties at Nagoya which provide English taught degree programmes can be found here
  • Supercomputer Centre: St John's students will visit the Information Technology Centre where a member of the technical staff will show them FURO, one of the fastest supercomputers in Japan. The students will have the opportunity to watch simulations via their advanced graphic systems on large screens (for example, simulations of Tsunami attack on the coast after the earthquake of Fukushima, simulations of typhoon attacking Japanese land, simulation of two galaxies colliding, simulations of protein folding etc)
  • Special lectures organised for the students from St John's.
  • Lecture on automotive engineering, and visit to automobile factory.
  • Cultural activities: St John’s students will be involved in a variety of cultural activities, during their stay in Japan. Some of the activities organised in the past, were: flower arrangement; kimono; origami, the art of paper-folding; Japanese Calligraphy; Bushido, Samurai Swordmanship etc 

 

Costs covered
  • Travel / Insurance / Visa costs
  • Accommodation 
  • Some of the programme activities in Japan
  • Students in receipt of a Cambridge Bursary will also receive a maintenance grant to cover their meals and transport whilst in Japan. 

Additional Information

Additional Information

The exchange students from Japan will visit Cambridge for two weeks towards the end of Lent Term. St John’s College will provide accommodation for the Japanese students. The host students are expected to assist their peers during their visit and be involved in the activities organised. The cost of these activities is covered by the College. Our goal is to make the exchange as rewarding and enjoyable as possible for both groups of students.

Example Activities

Application Procedure

Application Procedure

The application procedure starts on Friday, 17th November 2023 and the deadline for applications will be on Monday, 11th December 2023. 

Students who wish to apply will be asked to also attach: (i) a basic CV, and (ii) a personal statement of the reasons why they are interested in the Exchange Programme and how they feel that it would benefit their academic and personal development.

Student Services would be happy to respond to informal enquiries and requests for information.

The successful candidates will be notified at the end of January.

Testimonial

Testimonial

"I had an amazing time on the Nagoya Exchange and would highly recommend it. It was fun having the exchanges come to Cambridge but of course the highlight was visiting Japan. It made a huge difference to experience the culture through an exchange programme because we saw a more authentic side of student life in Japan. The Nagoya students organised really exciting events for us which we would never even have known about without them. As the culture in Japan is so different, it was so helpful to have them explain (and translate!) for us. We had the opportunity to visit a Japanese hot spring outside of the city and got to a sumo wrestling tournament, amongst many other things. We all gained a lot from the programme and even learnt a little Japanese!"

Ayesha Chanda, 4th year MML student, Summer 2016

NagoyaUniversity