International Activities
July 2-4, 2012
ICA Committee on University/Campus Co-operatives for Asia and the Pacific - Malaysia Workshop
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 2-4, 2012)
For promotion of co-operative activities in higher education in Asia
ICA Committee on University/Campus Co-operatives for Asia and the Pacific held a workshop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 2-4, 2012. The committee is consisted of 9 countries; Japan, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. All member counties except Vietnam took part in the workshop. NFUCA sent a delegation of 6 people, directors and students
At the opening ceremony in the first day, welcome address was delivered by the President of University of Malaya, the host university, followed by keynote speech from Prof. Kokichi Shoji.
In the afternoon, participants toured a high school co-op and a university co-op. There are many high school co-ops in Malaysia. They visited Gombak High School Co-op that operates cafeteria, shop, cybercafé and selling of hand-made sundries. Then, they visited University of Malaya Co-op. It has a similar type of operation with Japanese university co-ops. It handles stationaries, books, travel service, etc.
On the second day, participants had sessions of country report, panel discussion and group discussion.
On the last day, they made conclusion of the second-day discussions, and confirmed promotion of co-operative activities all over the Asia.
Impressions of a student participant
Membership ratio is 60% in Gombak High School Co-op. The figure doesn't look so high. However everyone joins, uses and participates with a sense of membership. This is different from Japanese university co-ops. We had a lot of things to learn from them.
The students from NFUCA participated in the workshop using English. It was the first time for us. It was really meaningful that we had opportunity to tell about Japanese university co-ops to everybody.
In the group discussion, we joined student groups. The theme was "Promotion of co-operative activity in higher educational institutions at the international level". Participants from countries where co-operatives pay dividends to members had thought about how to increase profit. Participants from countries where students can't become co-operative members had thought about how to expand attractive points of co-operatives to more and more students. We discussed positively and deeply to put the discussion to activities in each country. Japanese students have to keep on thinking about co-operative seriously.
I could rethink that how Japanese university co-ops play the role in Asia. Each country has each situation. However, Japanese university co-op movement, which has a long history and a lot of experiences, shall take the lead in Asia.
Although the program was just three days, delegates from various countries met together and participated in the workshop. We learned, found new things and spent quality time.
Azusa Shida, student director of NFUCA
NFUCA keeps on understanding the status of co-operative activities in each country, and promoting co-operative activities in wider view.
A beautiful dance by the students of Gombak
High School Co-op
Tour of Malaysian high school co-op; members
themselves provide services.
Koji Yamazaki (second left), student director of
NFUCA, made a presentation. Prof. Shoji, President of
NFUCA on the left.
Group discussion (student group)
Presentation of group discussion