Japanese and Norwegian Students Bridge Disciplines in Virtual Sustainability Exchange

On March 27, 2026, sixteen undergraduate students from Eikei University of Hiroshima joined fifty graduate students from Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) for a live, virtual exchange on local sustainability challenges. The session concluded the SPICE Social Entrepreneurship course offered at Eikei and co-organized with OsloMet’s master’s program in Applied Computer and Information Technology. Participants presented video-based problem statements from Hiroshima, received reframed versions from Norwegian peers, and collaborated in breakout rooms to discuss technically grounded proposals and implementation pathways.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

The SPICE (Stanford Program on Intercultural and Cross-disciplinary Education) Social Entrepreneurship course has been taught at Eikei since 2022. Its design, inspired by the vision of Hiroshima’s former Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki, emphasizes community engagement, design-thinking, and the integration of liberal-arts perspectives with STEM expertise. The 2026 exchange built on a partnership forged in August 2025 between SPICE and OsloMet, reflecting a shared belief in human-centered, context-sensitive learning.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• Eikei University of Hiroshima – host of the Japanese cohort and facilitator of reflective activities.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) – provider of the Norwegian graduate cohort and technical expertise.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• Professor Tulpesh Patel (OsloMet) – credited with making the partnership possible and rewarding.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• Hidehiko Yuzaki – former Governor of Hiroshima, whose earlier advocacy shaped the program’s interdisciplinary focus.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• Participating students – a mix of undergraduate liberal-arts majors (Japan) and graduate STEM specialists (Norway).

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• 16 Japanese undergraduates and 50 Norwegian graduate students took part.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• The course addressed four thematic areas: rural transportation, migrant-worker conditions, seniors’ access to AI, and cybersecurity.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• Each Japanese team produced a short video introducing a local challenge; Norwegian teams responded with technical solution concepts.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

Students reported that the exchange highlighted how local cultural attitudes shape problem definition and solution viability. One Japanese group noted divergent views on aging: Japan’s emphasis on governmental protection of the vulnerable contrasted with Norway’s focus on individual flourishing. Simultaneously, the collaboration revealed the complementary strengths of liberal-arts-based contextual sensitivity and discipline-specific technical design, reinforcing the STEAM goal of embedding human-centered perspectives within STEM frameworks.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

Professor Tulpesh Patel described the partnership as “a true collaboration… built on regular conversation, mutual trust, and a shared belief in the value of human-centered, context-sensitive learning.” SPICE officials highlighted the exchange as evidence that cross-institutional courses can deepen mutual understanding of “wicked” social problems and foster sustained interest in future joint projects.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

No dissenting viewpoints were presented in the source material.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• “The most memorable moment was when the very first prototype shown — from Group 9 — was an AI-generated image of a pizza with wheels, with an elderly person smiling next to it. I felt that our perspectives on social welfare and the public good were fundamentally different. Our conception of government's mission is something close to protecting the vulnerable. Their view, by contrast, were rooted in a focus on individual flourishing and self-actualization. It really took me by surprise.” — Student, Eikei University of Hiroshima

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

• “Since the Oslo students each specialize in one field, it seemed like every group felt compelled to apply that expertise — which meant their solutions often ended up looking similar. We, on the other hand, are trained to approach problems from multiple disciplines and to include not just what’s immediately feasible but also future possibilities. Seeing that difference made so concrete was what left the strongest impression.” — Student, Eikei University of Hiroshima

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange

Several Eikei participants expressed a desire to extend collaboration beyond a single session, suggesting that additional meetings could deepen mutual understanding and enable more robust co-design of solutions to complex sustainability challenges.

Learning Across Disciplines and Cultures: A Japan-Norway Student Exchange