Social Gathering for International Students and Researchers

　A social gathering for international students and researchers was held on Dec 14^th?2023 at Kofu Campus. About 144 people, including community representative, international students and researchers together with their family members, and university staffs took part in the event this year.
　This event hosted by the President of University of Yamanashi, Mr. Kazuhiko Nakamura, aims at deepening mutual understanding among the international students and researchers, university staffs and community representatives such as Iwakubo neighborhood association and UYISS (University of Yamanashi International Student Support) etc. For the past three years, due to the spread of COVID-19, the event was cancelled or held on a reduced scale only with people from within the university, but this time, for the first time in four years, the event was held with people including local community.
　The gathering started with a welcome address by the President and followed by the speeches from the Mayor of Kofu city and the Mayor of Chuo city. Ms. TRAN NHU NGOC QUE, a Vietnamese student from Medical Campus and Mr. LIM YU SHENG, a Malaysian student from Kofu Campus delivered their speech to express their appreciation as representative of all international students in Japanese.
　After the greeting and toast by Professor Xiaoyang Mao, an Executive Director for Research and Globalization Promotion, dishes were served in consideration of Halal and other religious backgrounds, and everyone enjoyed the event in a friendly atmosphere.
　During the event, all participants sang German winter song with Ms. MOGLER JIL, an exchange student from Germany, and students had a valuable opportunity talking and taking pictures with President Nakamura. ??
　The event was closed with closing remarks by Professor Hiromitsu Nishizaki, Director of the Center for Promotion of Internationalization and taking group photo with all the participants.