There has been a connection between HWG LU and NCU for many years. The city of Nagoya is one of the most important industrial centers in Japan. The surrounding area includes Toyota and other important companies. The visit by the Rector of NCU, Professor Kiyofumi Asai, who is also the Chief Physician of the University Hospital there, marked a new level of in-depth cooperation with HWG.
The origins of the cooperation date back to the noughties: a student exchange agreement was concluded on the initiative of the East Asia Institute (OAI). Since then, students from Ludwigshafen have been going to Nagoya every year, while students from there spend one or two semesters at the university in Ludwigshafen. Gradually, the cooperation also extended to scientific exchange. NCU researchers, for example, used the OAI facilities for their studies on structural change in the automotive industry, while Nagoya supported OAI projects on the energy industry in Japan.
During the visit of Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller, President of HWG LU, and Prof. Dr. Frank Rövekamp, Director of OAI, to Nagoya in March 2023, a strategic cooperation agreement was signed that covers all academic areas. Healthcare, and midwifery in particular, quickly emerged as a fruitful field. In spring 2024, a delegation from the Nagoya Faculty of Medicine visited the HWG for intensive technical discussions with the scientists led by Prof. Dr. Michaela Michel-Schuldt, Head of the Midwifery Science course. The partly different approaches of the two countries' healthcare systems and the opportunities to learn from each other are the focus of this cooperation.
The visit by Professor Asai, Rector of the NCU, underlined the importance of the ongoing cooperation. After initial talks on the HWG campus, the program included a visit to the Hospital of the Deaconesses, partner clinic of HWG LU, in Speyer. Dr. Asai was impressed by the facilities there and the way in which the interlinking of science and practice in midwifery is implemented between the HWG LU and the clinic in Speyer. Further talks took place at the OAI on the banks of the Rhine; academic exchange is also being continued and intensified in the field of economics.
The NCU has invited three female scientists from the HWG LU to an international conference in Nagoya in December. The cooperation is a model of German-Japanese collaboration, from student exchange to practical projects and research.
