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• 2. Kyoto University, Japan
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Kyoto University, Japan

Kyoto University is situated in the ancient City of Kyoto, which is considered to be one of the most beautiful and culturally important cities in the world. The university was established in 1897 as an imperial university and has grown into a large, prestigious university which now has about 14,000 undergraduate students, 7,000 graduate students, including 1,000 foreign students, 2,700 teachers, and 2,500 administrative staff. In fact, Asian Week ranks Kyoto University as the best overall university in Asia.

A preliminary agreement regarding an official exchange program between the Faculties of Engineering at Waterloo and Kyoto Universities was signed in 1992. Although the Waterloo/Kyoto exchange program is open to both undergraduate and graduate students, thus far both universities have decided to limit participation to graduate students. The first Master's students from Kyoto University arrived in Waterloo in early September, 1995. On the Canadian side, participation commenced in early April, 1997 when a Canadian Master's student arrived in Kyoto.

Participating students usually arrive at the host university at the start of the academic year - early September for the Japanese students going to Waterloo and early April for the Canadians studying at Kyoto. The students normally study at the host university for two academic terms, during which time they can take courses for credit or audit and work on their research under the tutelage of host professors. Each Waterloo student going to Kyoto University is given a study desk in the laboratory of a professor working in his or her field of study, as is also the case with respect to Waterloo students studying in Tottori. Visiting students usually have desks alongside amicable host graduate students who are able to offer academic advice and invite them to participate in social activities. The exchange students have taken the opportunity to travel around the country in which they are living and quite often will visit nearby foreign countries such as the United States if they are in Canada or Korea if they are studying in Japan.