At many universities overseas, fall is when the new academic year begins. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, universities in Aichi Prefecture have been unable to send students on exchange programs to the institutions overseas with which they have ties.
Among those affected is Aichi Shukutoku University, which dispatched 299 students to eight countries in fiscal 2019, which ran through March 2020. The university has decided not to send students overseas in fiscal 2020 and the current fiscal year due to the health crisis.
Instead, it conducted a class via videoconferencing, using the Zoom platform, for those who had intended to go to universities in the United States and South Korea for a short-term program of two to three weeks, connecting teachers in those countries and Japanese students at home. There was also a debate session among the students.