Activity Report of Open Application Course vol.11
Global engineer education through hands-on learning and interaction between Colleges of Industrial Technology in Mongolia and the National Institute of Technology,
Tomakomai College
Report from National Institute of Technology, Tomakomai College
From August 18 to 24, 2019, a total of 15 invitees visited Japan from the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) at the Mongol College of Technology, the MUST College of Technology, and the New Mongol College of Technology. The invitees consisted of twelve students (four from each school) and three supervisors. The invitees participated in activities such as experiments at Tomakomai College and tours of corporations. Tomakomai College has supported those three Mongolian institutes in terms of instructional methods for experiments and graduate research. Seeking to achieve even further exchange, the College applied and was accepted for the Sakura Science Exchange Program, thus making the recent visit possible.
August 19:
Morning activities consisted of an orientation, an introduction of the KOSEN system and the National Institute of Technology, Tomakomai College, and a campus tour including training facilities and information processing facilities. In the afternoon, participants toured the room used by the Robot Technology Club and received an explanation on robots currently being manufactured by club members who were attending a training camp for the 2019 Hokkaido Regional Championships which were held on October 27 as part of the 2019 KOSEN Robocon.
Also, after participating in an activity on designing car models using cloud 3D CAD at the Division of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Engineering for Innovation, participants attended a welcome party held at Tomakomai ARTEN in order to deepen exchange and friendship.
August 20:
In the morning, participants conducted an experiment on pipeline friction loss at the Division of Civil Engineering. First, participants attend a lecture on hydraulics, after which they collected data in the hydraulics laboratory. In the afternoon, participants tried making paper at the Division of Applied Chemistry and Biochemistry. They created cute postcards with colored paper, patterns and stamps. The two days of hands-on experiments at Tomakomai College seemed to have further deepened the participants’ understanding of the content by actually working with their own hands.
August 21:
In the morning, participants visited Hokkaido Shrine to pray and see traditional Japanese architecture. It seems that participants had already learned how to pray at a Japanese shrine. After purifying themselves with water at a chozuya (purification basin), they worshipped in the Japanese style of bowing twice, clapping twice, and then bowing again. In the afternoon, participants went to Okurayama Viewing Point in order to see the city planning in Sapporo based on urban planning. The students cheered when riding on a ski lift for the first time. They also enjoyed viewing the many landmarks scattered throughout the city, such as Odori Park, which extends straight from the observatory lounge, Sapporo Dome, and Hokkaido University.
August 22:
In the morning, participants visited the Lake Utonai Wildlife Conservation Center in order to observe how the nationally designated Lake Utonai Wildlife Sanctuary has been preserved and maintained as a good habitat for wildlife, and to see how humans and wildlife coexist. In the afternoon, participants toured the Tomakomai Plant of Toyota Motor Hokkaido, Inc. The participants seemed to benefit greatly from touring actual production sites using the latest technology.
August 23:
At the reporting session held at the end of the program, gave presentations in Japanese on their impressions of the training program “I learned a lot from the experiments.” “I would like to study at a Japan KOSEN school.” “I hope to become a skilled engineer in the future.” It seems that the group from Mongolia was highly stimulated by their trip to Japan. Following the reporting session, President Kurokawa presented each student with a completion certificate to signify the end of the program.
We will continue to promote active exchange with the three Mongolian KOSEN schools.