Why international students came to study at Waseda?
Waseda University prides itself for being the university in Japan with the most number of international students (5,400 as of November 2016) who come from over 112 countries around the world. Blessed with such abundant number of international students, Waseda Weekly (an online magazine for Waseda students) decided to interview four international students to find out why they decided to come to Japan and how they feel about the country. Of these four students who have been interviewed, two of them are featured in this article.
*Click here to view part two of the article.
Why did you choose to study Waseda University?
ALOUSH, Nourhan abdelbary Mohamed (Egyptian)
Japan is one of the leading countries in robotics and I chose to come to Waseda University because I want to study robot engineering. I believe my studies here at Waseda will add colors to my resume and be beneficial to my future career.
KUCHKOROV, Mirshod (Uzbek)
Back in my undergraduate school days when I studied Japanese law, I became really interested in my Japanese professor’s ways of thinking and working. It was the reason why I picked up Japanese language and eventually decided to study law in Japan at Waseda University.
“A university where students help out one another.”
ALOUSH, Nourhan abdelbary Mohamed
From Egypt
Year one PhD candidate majoring in Physics & Applied Physics from the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering. Interested in the research project at the Hashimoto Lab, Aloush came to study at Waseda through the ABE Initiate Program of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The education system and environment is very different from my home country. Even in the same research field, students are all doing different research in the same lab, but helping out one another at the same time. This kind of studying environment really appeals to me.
The thing that I was really amazed by Japan is its culture of respecting rules and procedures. For example, the trains are always on time, except of course in unforeseen circumstances. Because of that, it makes it really easy to make plans accordingly to time.
I got used to living in Japan so much faster than I expected myself. This is all thanks to the diverse and large number international students that I met at Waseda University. Before coming to Waseda, I did not know it was such an international university. Even though it is a Japanese university by nature, you can find many people from various backgrounds and speak different languages. I hope to make use of this advantage while I continue to make progress in my research.
“A place where students enjoy freedom and live to the fullest.”
KUCHKOROV, Mirshod
From Uzbekistan
Year one PhD candidate majoring in civil law from the Waseda Law School. Kuchkorov is currently doing research in intellectual property as he believes that such knowledge will be necessary for Uzbekistan’s future development.
One of the reasons why I chose to come to Waseda University is because I want to experience modern Japan and the university is situated in the center of Tokyo.
Before coming to Japan, I thought that Japanese students did nothing but studying at university but I was wrong. Besides juggling with school work, Japanese students also actively participate in student club activities, trying out new things while they are still students. Comparing to the students in Uzbekistani, I feel that students in Japan enjoy a lot of freedom. Additionally, I was also very amazed by how many Waseda students have dreams and goals about their future.
As for my own future goals, I will either choose to become a researcher in my home country or work in Japan after graduation.
*This article is based on an interview conducted in 2016.
