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A group of 18 students and 4 faculty members from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, visited Japan and participated in an exchange event with students from the College of International Relations.

Since the 2023 academic year, the College of International Relations has been offering the International Organization Training Program in Bangkok, coordinated by Professor Sachiko Ishikawa. The program is designed for students aspiring to work in international organizations, and includes visits to international organizations and universities in Thailand, where students engage in discussions and workshops.

On the day of the event, a lecture was delivered by Professor Mayumi Ono from the College of Letters, specializing in Regional Tourism Studies, on the shared issue of overtourism in both Kyoto and Bangkok. The lecture was titled “Tourism and Culture in Japan: Current Issues and Future Prospects.”

Following the lecture, mixed groups of students from both universities engaged in discussions on potential solutions to mitigate overtourism and presented their ideas as a group.

Although time was limited, students quickly bonded and actively exchanged ideas from their respective perspectives in Kyoto and Bangkok.

At the end of the event, students from Chulalongkorn University performed a traditional Thai dance, creating a meaningful moment of cultural sharing for all participants.

Our college plans to visit Chulalongkorn University again during the upcoming International Organization Training Program in Bangkok scheduled for September, continuing to build on the student exchange and collaboration.

GSG is a course in which students take on the roles of real entities in the international community, such as “nations,” “international organizations,” “NGOs,” and “media,” and experience simulated international negotiations to solve actual international issues. The theme for the 2025 academic year was “International Security,” and students conducted negotiations based on this theme.

On the day of the event, 354 second-year students were divided into 58 actors.

Students from the Japanese-based course major International Relations major (IR major) and the English-based course major Global Studies major (GS major) participated together in English, deepening cross-disciplinary learning and strengthen connection across two different majors.

Students conducted preparatory learning from April to June through a combination of class-based lessons and groupwork-based lessons. Each actor group consisted of 5 to 8 members, who assigned roles such as president and foreign minister within their group and prepared for international negotiations with other groups.

In the actual program, one session was considered to represent one year in the real world, and two sessions were held in one day. Students held various international conferences, including the United Nations General Assembly, and actively engaged in international negotiations to resolve issues. Additionally, media actors reported on events through news broadcasts, with each actor leveraging their unique strengths in their activities.

Through GSG, students gained firsthand experience of the challenges and real-world nature of international negotiations—something that cannot be fully understood through TV or news alone. This experience not only cultivated their ability to analyze international events from multiple perspectives but also served as a catalyst for reflecting on their future academic pursuits and career paths beyond their third year.