UH Hilo builds exchange program with Musashino University

Students and faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) will begin educational and research projects in Japan thanks to an agreement with Musashino University (MU).

DKICP Dean Carolyn Ma met with officials in July to discuss the Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) so that UH Hilo can be a part of the beginning of MU’s international student exchange program.

“In addition to providing a great international opportunity for our students to fulfill their experiential requirements, we envision them to be able to attend MU’s annual international exchange program held every summer for two weeks,” Ma said. “We would like to create a short course in Hilo for visiting professors and students as we have with a few other Japanese pharmacy schools.”

The program, called “The U.S. Japan Student Pharmacists and Pharmacists Exchange Program,” allows students and/or licensed pharmacists from either institution to complete prescribed coursework or develop new programs in higher education.

While meeting with MU Dean of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science Toshiaki Katada and other pharmacy faculty, Ma provided a presentation about her own specialty in oncology clinical pharmacy. She also discussed DKICP’s Pharm.D. program and the exchange of a DKICP faculty to teach clinical pharmacy for a week at MU.

“This exchange of international experiences sets the stage for a truly unique education that exposes our student pharmacists to other cultures and lifestyles that will carry them into their professional lives,” Ma said.

Administrators also are discussing the possibility of giving DKICP students the opportunity to help with the Olympics after the two weeks of international exchange in 2020.

MU has a Department of Pharmacy as well as a Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences. It has two locations in Japan -- the original campus in Nishitokyo, a city located in the western portion of Tokyo, and the newer Ariake campus, located in the Odaiba area of Tokyo where planning is underway for the 2020 Summer Olympics.