Welcoming Speech

To the students, faculty, and staff of both the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and Kyoto University, I, Lisa Dudek, welcome you all here today to this very special ceremony where we will celebrate the joining together of two schools. I am very ecstatic to announce the new foreign exchange program that UNCW and will be starting with Kyoto University in Japan.

Today, I have the incredible honor of welcoming a very prestigious university to our campus. UNCW has been offered a great opportunity to join together with Kyoto University for an excellent foreign exchange program. I am very excited about this exchange program. I know that our university will be able to learn a lot from Kyoto University and I’m sure that they will be able to learn a lot from us as well. Our exchange program will help us share and transmit knowledge between both universities and learn about each other’s cultures. The two very different cultures of our schools will be a big learning experience for all students involved.

Our two schools share some similarities, but we also have our share of differences. One big difference is that Kyoto University is a much bigger establishment than UNCW. Kyoto University has ten faculties, 15 Graduate schools, 12 Research Institutes, and 21 Research and Educational Centers. This is many more schools and departments than UNCW. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington only offers four schools, and nine different Graduate programs. Hopefully, our students will have no problems fitting into such a big school like Kyoto, and maybe that students of Kyoto University can appreciate the leaning atmosphere at a smaller school such as UNCW. Both universities offer schools of education, arts and sciences, and medicine.

A similarity that both our schools share is that we are both four-year universities. This is actually a recent change though. Kyoto University was not a four-year university until May of 1949. Before that time, it was only a three-year institute. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington became an official four-year university on July 1, 1969. It was formerly known as Wilmington College.

Kyoto University has a much longer and more intensive academic calendar. The students at Kyoto University go to school for almost a full whole year, whereas here at UNCW, we have a very long summer break.

I myself along with other students and faculty here at UNCW feel very lucky and privileged to have the opportunity to share this great experience with the students and faculty at Kyoto University. The students involved in this foreign exchange program have a great year ahead of them to look forward to. All of the exchange students from both universities will be able to experience a new culture in their eyes, and I’m sure that they will be able to learn a lot from each other about one another’s cultures through this great program that is about to get underway. I wish nothing but the best of luck to all students and faculty involved in this great program!!!