RITSUMEIKAN ASIA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY AND UNIVERSITY FOR PEACE SIGN AGREEMENT OF COOPERATION

RITSUMEIKAN ASIA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY AND UNIVERSITY FOR PEACE

SIGN AGREEMENT OF COOPERATION

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (UPEACE) 7 March -- The Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and the University for Peace (UPEACE), created by international agreement, endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly and based in Costa Rica, signed a Memorandum of Agreement today to increase their cooperation in line with the missions of both institutions to promote education for peace, progress and sustainable development.  The MoA further serves to promote the exchange of students and faculty for joint course development, teaching and research, and to engage in those activities that both universities consider will enhance global capacity in the area of peace studies.

The two universities agree that the problems of globalization and world peace cannot be solved separately or by conventional means alone.  There is a need to educate individuals throughout the world who can think in global terms. Talented young persons must be stimulated and educated to face the complex challenges of the future.

Ritsumeikan University was established over 100 years ago as an institution where people can endeavour to improve themselves and promote world peace and progress.  The Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University has a unique Charter, stipulating that half of its students and faculty should be from other countries than Japan. This makes Ritsumeikan a natural partner of UPEACE, which is a multicultural institution of higher education, mandated by the General Assembly of the United Nations to become “an international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen the obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in keeping with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations”.

Parallel to the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement, scholars and experts from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and UPEACE engaged in a two-day forum on issues related to the role of education in sustainable peace and progress.

The President of the Asia Pacific University, Professor Sakamoto Kazuichi; Dr. Maurice Strong, President of UPEACE; Martin Lees, Rector of UPEACE; Professors Suzuki Itoko, Dean of the College of Asia Pacific Studies and Professor Arakawa Yoshizo, Dean of International Affairs, were amongst the distinguished participants during the seminar.  It was evident from the debates that both universities are building an intensive joint agenda of issues and concepts related to education for conflict prevention, peace building and peace maintenance on a broad scale.

For more information, please contact Ivonne Aguilar, Public Information Officer, tel:  205-90-00, e-mail:  iaguilar@ecouncil.ac.c.