By Lindsay Marie Borres, BA ELS-4 OJT

Hitomi Okido and Koki Higuchi are two exchange students from Fukuoka University.

Pre-pandemic Central Philippine University is swarming with exchange and international students from Asian countries like China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and more. Covid-19 hindered potential exchanges and decreased the number of foreign students.

For the school year, 2021-2022 Central Philippine University accepted two students from Fukuoka University, Japan in the exchange student program for 1st semester, and it is one remarkable event of how CPU is slowly rising up from the crisis taking baby steps while adjusting to the new normal. Fukuoka University is an active partner institution of CPU and part of the Memorandum of Understanding is the student exchange. The pandemic has made an impact on student exchange programs. Despite this, Central Philippine University and Fukuoka University had agreed to let the students take courses online. Dr. Masahiro Abiru, a Professor of the Faculty of Economics of Fukuoka University, recommended two of his students for this program.

The students were enrolled for one semester in the College of Business and Accountancy, BSBA Marketing Management course. Mr. Koki Higuchi, who is interested in International Business, took two subjects (1 English, 1 Business) Com 2101 (Intro to Communication Media) Mktg 310 (E-Commerce & Internet Mktg). Ms. Hitomi Okido on the other hand took GEHum 1. This gave them the opportunity and experience to join regular classes and interact with their Filipino teachers and classmates as well as for cultural enrichment. The student exchange program is facilitated by the Office of International Relations and Cooperation of CPU.

Koki Higuchi said that he learned about marketing strategies that he didn’t know and it was an exciting course for him. “If I have a chance to learn in CPU again, I’d love to take it in a face-to-face class next time,” he added.

According to Hitomi Okido, she said that it was a great experience since she never studied in other countries before. Although she couldn’t speak a lot in her class because of the language barrier, she still enjoyed the times spent with her classmates and teacher.