Founding the Waterloo-Tottori Exchange Program
Since 1982, the University of Waterloo has been privileged to have close connections with Tottori University in Japan. The relationship started with the execution of joint research projects between Professor Norio Okada, who was then located at Tottori University, and Professor Keith Hipel, at the University of Waterloo. Over the years, other faculty members from Japan and Canada have become involved in a range of interesting cooperative research projects, including some challenging projects that are currently being investigated. Canadian researchers have presented research seminars at Tottori University in Japan while Japanese faculty members have done likewise in Canada. Inspired by the academic design of the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, in 1985 Tottori University launched the Department of Social Systems Engineering, a bold new educational experiment which was the first of its kind in Japan.
Perhaps the most important academic spinoff of the growing relationship between Tottori University and the University of Waterloo was the founding of a formal academic exchange program. On a hot summer's day in 1987, Professors Hipel and Okada were walking along the hallway of the heavy engineering laboratories at the University of Waterloo excitedly discussing their new book when all of a sudden an energetic female undergraduate student in the Department of Systems Design Engineering by the name of Ms. S. Shaw boldly confronted them. Before Professor Okada could be formally introduced to this bright young student who suddenly appeared from amongst the swarms of students buzzing down the hallway to their next classes, Ms. Shaw emphatically exclaimed what was on her mind. "Oh, Professor Hipel," she stated, "I know that you travel back and forth to Japan to do research. Can't you please, please start an exchange program with Japan so that engineering students from Waterloo can go to Japan to learn and experience Japanese culture and language?" Professors Okada and Hipel looked at one another and simultaneously blurted out the words, "That shouldn't be a problem." Hence, from the initial research seeds planted earlier and the resulting bountiful research crop that their students observed them harvesting, they were unexpectedly asked to plant another seed in their respective academic fields - international exchange programs.
Their late colleague, friend and mentor, Professor T.E. Unny of the Department of Systems Design Engineering, strongly encouraged Professors Hipel and Okada to launch an exchange program between Waterloo and Tottori. Accordingly, that evening, after the unexpected encounter with Ms. Shaw, they worked furiously for many hours to produce a suitable draft for an exchange agreement between the University of Waterloo in Canada and Tottori University in Japan. The agreement was made as comprehensive as possible and was therefore open to both undergraduate and graduate students and included both study and work experience in Japanese industry for Waterloo students going to Japan. The following morning Professors Hipel and Okada strode into the President's Office at the University of Waterloo where they enthusiastically presented their "hot off the press" document to President Douglas Wright. "An exchange program with Japan - what a wonderful idea!" exclaimed President Wright, a dynamic individual who had been the first Dean of Engineering at Waterloo and knew how to get things done, especially if they were unconventional and very imaginative. He thereupon signed the exchange agreement without even reading it, and on November 16, 1987, a slightly revised English and Japanese version of the initial draft was signed by both universities.
The exchange agreement between Tottori and Waterloo is valid for use by both undergraduate and graduate students. However, to date only undergraduate Waterloo students have gone to Japan to study their 3A academic term followed by a work term in Japanese industry while only Master's students from Tottori University have come to Waterloo to study during the fall and winter terms.
Undergraduate students in engineering at the University of Waterloo who require information about the application procedure for going to Japan should go to: Application Procedure
For a list of all Canadian and Japanese who have participated in the exchange program and a description of other aspects of the program, please go to: "Activities of the Exchange Program between the University of Waterloo in Canada and Tottori University in Japan"
Finally, to read an IEEE journal paper about the exchange programs of the University of Waterloo with both Tottori and Kyoto Universities, kindly go to: The Internationalization of Engineering Education: A Tale of Two Countries. This IEEE paper describes the development and structure of both exchange programs, individual success stories of student participants, the results of a survey completed by students who took part in the exchanges and fundamental principles and reasons for successful exchange programs. An interesting finding of the student survey is that the students considered "personal development" to be the most important benefit of participation. In other words, they appreciated the unique opportunity to be immersed in a new culture through living, studying and working, and to be able to learn to speak a foreign language.
If you would like to communicate directly with a Waterloo student who took part in the exchange program in 2002, please feel free to contact Anderson Kwan at alhkwan@engmail.uwaterloo.ca
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