On March 17, 2021, the four universities that are leading institutions in the field of multicultural societies education, namely Hirosaki University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Nagasaki University and Utsunomiya University, signed the Agreement concerning Consortium for International Education, or COINE.

This agreement aims to solve the problems existing within the multilingual/multicultural societies in Japan and abroad, and to bring about societies in which people with different linguistic, customary and cultural backgrounds can live peacefully. To achieve this goal, the aforementioned four universities will work together mainly in the educational field by sharing information and complementing each other with their unique characteristics.

The Consortium offers a collaborative course titled “Invitation to Multicultural Societies,” in which each university will take turns to offer specific classes. The classes consist of a variety of locally oriented and specialized lectures presented by each university, followed by the discussion and interexchange among the students of all the four universities via online.

This four-university c ollaborative course “Invitation to Multicultural Societies” is a part of the activities associated with Center for Multicultural Public Sphere, and will be provided as a specialized education course of the School of International Studies titled “Multicultural Public Sphere Research Seminar” (2 units) in 2022 and onward.