Tokyo Tech Hosts 17th Annual Student Support Forum

Tokyo Tech’s Student Initiative Support Services, an arm of the Student Success Support Section within the Student Support Center, hosted the 17th Student Support Forum at Hisao & Hiroko Taki Plaza on Ookayama Campus on February 29.
The annual Student Support Forum aims to support and revitalize student activities, which are often public in nature, promote exchanges between students from a wide range of universities, and generally enhance student, university, and local community life.

The 2024 “forum for students by students” was planned and executed from start to finish by students. A total of 85 students, staff, and faculty members from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Utsunomiya University, the University of Tsukuba, the University of Tokyo, the International University of Health and Welfare, Seijo University, and Tokyo City University came together to enjoy the day and focus particularly on this year’s theme of enhanced student exchange.

After opening words from Tokyo Tech President Kazuya Masu, Professor Kenji Saito from Tokyo Tech’s Health Support Center briefly outlined the history and purpose of the event. Acting as moderators at the forum were 3rd-year Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering student Narumi Iiboshi and 2nd-year Computer Science student Tatsunori Hashimoto.For the first time, this year’s Student Support Forum kicked off with an icebreaking session. Participants joined groups of three or four people to decide on keywords that best describe themselves. They then shared these keywords, together with hashtags, allowing everyone to get acquainted.

Participants offered positive feedback on this approach to start the forum. Some said it fostered a friendly atmosphere right from the start, while others were convinced that it encouraged more lively discussions later in the day.

This year, five student groups supported by the Institute’s Student Success Support Section — Tokyo Tech’s Peer Supporters, the Student Survey Group, Tokyo Tech Volunteer Group, study abroad promotion group FLAP, and Tokyo Tech’s Peer Life Coaches — gave presentations to share their activities and achievements over the past year.

TMDU’s Peer Supporters were also present to share their activities, providing a valuable opportunity to learn about the differences between the lives of TMDU and Tokyo Tech students. Tokyo Tech and TMDU will merge in October 2024 to form Institute of Science Tokyo.