Sho Nohara, an administrator from Kyushu University in Japan, “LEAPed” to the United States in June 2016 for a unique internship program for higher education administrators.

Nohara began his nine-month journey with eight weeks of intensive English training at Bozeman’s Montana State University, and arrived at the University of Delaware in August, where his internship officially began.

The Long-Term Education Administrators Program (LEAP), sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), brings young professionals to institutions across the United States to learn about the U.S. higher education system and the operations of international program offices.

“I chose the University of Delaware from around 20 universities because I am interested in international research exchange,” said Nohara, “and I wanted to learn about support programs for international scholars.” During the 2015-16 academic year, UD was home to 479 scholars and employees from across the globe.

Nohara, UD’s first-ever intern from the LEAP program, called the Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) home during his stay. In addition to staff from OISS, he also met with representatives from the Research Office and College of Engineering, as well as other officials from the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University.

“It was a great opportunity to take part in many interviews at UD and other institutions. I didn’t have any previous knowledge of the academic culture and student, faculty and staff support systems at American universities,” he said. “I can’t introduce this knowledge at Kyushu in the same way as it exists at UD, but I have gained a lot of inspiration and hints from these experiences. I have come away with many ideas for continuing Kyushu University’s internationalization efforts.”

Among those ideas that Nohara will seek to establish are a public relations office and an efficient and affordable system for hosting international visitors.

“Kyushu will be able to invite young researchers to network with Kyushu faculty and staff,” said Nohara, “to present to our audiences, and to create opportunities for new research collaboration.”

Nohara immersed himself in the campus community further by attending weekly International Coffee Hours and meetings of registered student organizations, including Japanese Table and the Global Language and Culture Partnership Program (GLCPP).

“I really enjoyed a lot of things about my time at UD, but especially when I presented on Japanese culture at a meeting of the GLCPP club,” he said. “Many students, more than 100, came to this presentation and were interested in Japanese culture. It was great to have the ability to break down some of the barriers between UD and Kyushu University and, at a larger level, between Japan and the U.S.”

While Nohara will take back to Japan many lessons learned at UD, he will also leave a lasting impact here. “I’ve learned so much from him about the differences between our education systems,” said Courtney Johnson, international student adviser and LEAP coordinator at OISS. “It has been really interesting because both have pros and cons as to how they work. Not only is he taking bits and pieces from ours, but we’re doing the same from him. Everyone benefits.”

Now that Nohara has returned to Japan and to his work, he will present a plan for campus internationalization to the Japanese Ministry and to his colleagues at Kyushu University.

“It was a pleasure meeting Sho Nohara and discussing the different communications strategies our teams take to share our researchers’ discoveries with the rest of the world,” said Tracey Bryant, director of research communications. “As UD’s global research profile grows, we may certainly hope to have the opportunity to collaborate on projects in the future.”

About the Office for International Students and Scholars

The Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) is the designated office at the University of Delaware that provides immigration advising and support services to more than 5,000 international students, scholars, and family members from over 100 different countries. Throughout the year, the office also offers a series of workshops, sessions, and programming events for the international community at UD. 

For more information, visit the OISS website, which provides comprehensive information and resources on how to navigate issues that are most common to international students and scholars in the United States.

The office is located at Elliott Hall, 26 E. Main Street, and can be reached by email at oiss@udel.edu or by phone at 302-831-2115.