On February 4-7 2014, a total of 17 people from Korea Federation of University Co-operatives (KUCF), including the new President and other KUCF directors went to Japan to learn about Japanese university co-operatives.
In South Korea, the number of university co-operatives increased rapidly in the past few years. In order to strengthen the roles of KUCF, this year training was conducted under the following purposes.
First, the delegation visited the University of Tokyo Co-op and heard presentations by our President, General Director & CEO, and the Chairperson of Student Committee. They also visited Tokyo Business Association’s Tokorozawa Center and Seikatsu Club Co-op. On the last day, the delegation visited Tokyo Gakugei University Co-op. This training was concluded with a dinner.
KUCF delegation expressed their views about Japanese university co-ops. According to them, NFUCA has some strengths, including the active participation of students, being viewed positive by the community, and that university co-ops are eager to fulfill their roles to the universities and community in many forms. They were also impressed with the joint business through NFUCA while ensuring the independence of member co-ops.
We believe that this year’s training was proved to be meaningful for KUCF delegation to learn about NFUCA and the roles of its directors, Student Committee and joint business. We hope the information and knowledge can be shared to KUCF members. On the other hand, NFUCA also learned a lot about the direction of KUCF in the future.
The exchange between Japan and Korea university co-operatives has been going for years. In the summer, an exchange seminar for students was also held.