Substantive Partnership between Royal University of Bhutan and Kyoto University
6 December 2011: A team of ten academics from Sherubtse College, Royal University of Bhutan, and nine from Kyoto University in Japan have begun a joint research study called ‘Integrated Studies on the Role of Traditional Knowledge and Skills in Enhancing Rural Life in Bhutan’.
The joint study is part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in June this year between Sherubtse College and three research centres of Kyoto University -- the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, and the Centre for Integrated Area Studies. 
Sherubtse College and the Kyoto University research centres will engage in four areas of collaboration -- exchange of staff and students, joint research programmes, conduct of workshops, seminars and meetings relevant to the two universities, and exchange of scientific materials.
In order to strengthen the collaboration and take the joint research project and other activities forward, three members of the Japanese team -- Professor Kuzuo Ando of the Department of Practice-oriented Studies, Kyoto University, Professor Akinobu Kawai, University of the Air, and Yoshio Akamatsu, PhD scholar, Ehime University -- are currently visiting Sherubtse College. The visiting team met with the Vice Chancellor of the Royal University of Bhutan Dasho (Dr) Pema Thinley and senior officials of RUB on 6th December. They expressed their deep interest and admiration for Bhutan’s development philosophy of Gross National Happiness, especially in terms of how the Royal Government of Bhutan is promoting sustainable growth in rural areas. They said that the two universities must collaborate in joint research projects focused on integrated rural development. 
As part of the exchange programme, Yoshio Akamatsu will spend a year at Sherubtse College where he will teach and provide research supervision to undergraduate students and work on his own PhD research. A lecturer from Sherubste College has already visited Kyoto University to learn about the process of change in rural life in Japan. Early next year one Sherubtse lecturer will participate in an international seminar in Myanmar to present preliminary findings from the joint research study together with the Japanese university counterparts. Also later next year, Sherubtse College will host an international seminar on ‘Integrated Studies on the Role of Traditional Knowledge and Skills in Enhancing Rural Life in Bhutan’. The seminar will bring participants from Bangladesh, Laos, India, Indonesia, Japan and Myanmar.
