This document summarizes an international program in maritime and urban engineering at Osaka University from the perspective of a master's student. Some key points: 1) The program is conducted in English, allowing international students to study in Japan despite potential language barriers. It also increases global collaboration. 2) Studying at Osaka University offers affordable tuition and many scholarship opportunities. The university and city of Osaka provide a safe environment to learn. 3) The program encourages interaction between international students through lab seminars and site visits, helping students gain broader perspectives on their research topics. 4) The student suggests increasing support for international students to complete their research and developing an alumni network after graduation.

1. International Program of
Maritime and Urban
Engineering
By : Putika Ashfar Khoiri
Water Engineering Laboratory,
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Osaka University
(2nd year of master student)
Supervisor : Masayasu Irie
Interests : Flood Modelling , hydrological model, uncertainty
propagation, polynomial chaos expansion
March 20th, 2018
Voice of students

2. Why foreign students are in doubt for studying
abroad
(especially in non-English speaking country)?
Language
A language barrier makes the learning process and daily life difficult
because learning materials, information, etc. cannot be read easily
Living Cost
We cannot estimate the living cost in a new place and how to afford it
Culture shock
It is applicable for all overseas students, but sometimes some students have a
problem to deal with language barrier and new culture they’ve been found
But, it has some advantages :
1. It’s challenging to pursue a degree while studying the language
2. Have a different perspective (especially in Japan) about how the learning process is
going

3. Why Osaka University ?
Tuition fees and scholarships
• In Osaka University, the tuition fee for one year is affordable ( 535.000 yen/year)
compare to the United States (1,2 billion yen/year).
• a wide range of scholarships are available, both from the university, and from public
and private organizations
A good place to live and study
• Osaka is a fruitful place to live, peaceful and safe place to study.
• Osaka University as one of the best universities in Japan.
Diversity
Osaka University has a large number of international students that make it possible for
foreign students to exchange ideas and thoughts from different countries in the world.

4. International Program of Maritime and Urban Engineering
1. Only a few universities have English-based degree courses in Japan.
In this program, classes are conducted in English ( however for some Departments,
the number of classes which are provided in English is still a few).
2. Japanese universities are recently opening up to invite and accept more international
students through the Top Global University Project (including Osaka University)
by MEXT in 2014. It surely will be :
- increasing collaborative researches with global universities,
- increasing MOUs between world universities
The reasons

5. International Program of Maritime and Urban Engineering
1. Sharing opinions and ideas with group from different background students to solve
the environmental problem based on the recent situations.
It will improve the ability of students to do critical thinking, writing, discuss and
express themselves
2. Site visits are also conducted for students to understand real conditions of their
subjects
3. Students have a broader view of all department subjects, resulting in a better
research perspectives.

6. Research and academics life
1. Rich discussion between international students and supervisor about the research.
2. Deep learning about research based on each student interest.
3. Lab seminar
- Encourage student to do their best on their research
- Control the research progress of the students
4. Laboratory life is not about studying but also enjoying the life

7. Another academic side point of view
30%
30%
30%
8%
2%
Calculation ranking by Times Higher Education
teaching
research
citations
international outlook
industry income
The scores in citations
are given only to papers
written in English, and
measured on the basis
of the number of
citations per teacher.
The main reason is the lack of PhD students in Engineering. Master students hardly
pursue their PhD, due to lack of grants. Master students will rather choose to go to
company for working.
The 5 years program scholarship for International Program of Maritime and Urban
Engineering is a good choice

8. Opinion : Subjective suggestions for the future
1. Graduate students should be more active in academics research regarding various
problems.
2. Support and supervising from the teachers to student to complete their research,
especially for international students can give an encouragement for the students.
3. After graduation, global network for the students of International Program of
Maritime and Urban Engineering is important.