The fact that Kyoto University and Heidelberg's Ruperto Carola have maintained a close partnership for years is nothing new; their cooperation goes back as far as 1990 and found its temporary peak in the foundation of a Japanese-German univeristy consortium, creatively dubbed "HeKKSaGOn".
Recently, the two universities were able to mark another milestone: On Saturday, May 3rd, delegates of both schools, of the Japanese Ministry of Education and of the country's embassy, came together to celebrate the opening of Kyoto's "Heidelberg Office". This institution, one of only two international offices of Kyoto University, is being established with the purpose of extending cooperation between Kyoto and Heidelberg as well as promoting contacts between Japanese and European universities in general.
For Japan, Kyoto's "Heidelberg Office" represents another step towards growing internationality of its higher education. By 2020, the number of Japanese students going abroad is supposed to double; the number of foreign exchange students in Japan is also to increase dramatically. The planned 2015 opening of Heidelberg's "Kyoto Office" in Japan will undoubtedly support this endeavor further. Here's to a successful continued partnership!
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