Learning and Exchange in Egypt: The Cross-cultural Collaborative Summer Program at E-JUST
2025.9.26
From September 5 to September 18, 2025, the Multicultural Collaborative Summer Program was held at Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), with five students from the University of Tsukuba and five students from E-JUST participating.
The program featured four activities: lectures by E-JUST faculty, visits to Egyptian and Japanese companies and discussions with E-JUST student entrepreneurs, site visits to World Heritage sites, libraries, and museums, and group work by joint teams of our university students and E-JUST students. The lectures, conducted in a workshop format, covered themes including Egypt’s environmental issues, world heritage, culture, the digital economy, and design thinking. During the company visits, we toured Egyptian wastewater treatment facilities and chemical plants, as well as a Japanese air conditioning company, observing each company’s initiatives focused on environmental conservation and energy efficiency. We also talked with three E-JUST student entrepreneurs about their businesses involving digital twins, automotive brakes, and scanning handwritten prescriptions. Additionally, we exchanged ideas with representatives from the Business Incubation Center regarding commercializing ideas and entrepreneurship.
Site visits included the early Christian sanctuary near E-JUST, the Library of Alexandria, the Ottoman-era citadel, Cairo Tower, Cairo’s Old City, the Pyramids in Giza, and the Grand Egyptian Museum.
During group work, each group analyzed a selected Egyptian social issue, developed solutions, and explored how these solutions might impact stakeholders’ individual lives through creating manga storyboards. The outcomes of the group work, along with what each participant learned from this summer program and how they plan to apply it to their future career design, were presented at a final presentation session.
Outside of the program, students from our university and E-JUST deepened their friendships through games, sports, cultural experiences, shopping, and walks.
It was a packed, fulfilling 10-day program from morning to night.
After returning to Japan, a debriefing session was held on September 22, where the students shared what they had learned from the collaborative program from their own perspectives.
