The delegates of Japanese of University of Waseda visited Alzahra University on the last days of summer and had a meeting with the university officials to sign a memorandum of understanding between two universities. Dean of Organization for Islamic Area Studies, Dr. Sakurai; Mikkio Shimaoka from the Center for Research Strategy and coordinator of International Office, Hajime Usukura from Waseda University formed the body of Japanese delegation. The President of Alzahra University, director of International Academic Collaborations office, Vice-chancellery of Students' Affairs, and the head and some of the faculty members of Psychology and Educational Sciences Faculty also participated in this meeting.

The event started with a brief introduction about Alzahra University, provided by Dr. Marandi, director of International Academic Collaborations office (IAC). Dr. Sakurai, who spent her nine month sabbatical in Alzahra University four years ago, furthermore talked about Waseda University and the Organization of Islamic Area Studies. According to her, the organization currently is the Headquarter of a national project named Islamic Area Studies, and seven researchers are working on this project. She referred to the expansion of international collaborations and relations as one the main goals of their visit and expressed her hopes to join Iran to the countries that already are working with this project. Translating classic books into Japanese, moreover, is one of the other achievements of this organization. She added: "Waseda University is an active and productive private university that was established 140 years ago. One third its professors are non-Japanese and international students form one-third of the community of our students." She also mentioned to the actions taken in Waseda for Muslim students and said: "University officials agreed to build a small Molalla for Muslim students and we provide halal meat in one or two cafeterias."

Mikkio Shimaoka, from the Center for Research Strategy, also provided an overall introduction about the Japanese university.  According to her, Waseda is a comprehensive university, and a vast range of programs are offered to the students except for medical sciences. Waseda with its' long history has 30 undergraduate, 21 graduate schools, more than 50000 students, 5400 faculty, and a community of 600000 alumni. "Recently, the Waseda University was selected as the top university in the global university project funding by Japanese ministry of education," she stated.

The coordinator of International office of Waseda University later explained about his university international research collaborations and programs. The program of International Scholar Services provides opportunities for university professors to enter Waseda as a Visiting Staff and stay there up to one year; however; the accommodation fees are not supported by this university. The program of International Joint Research, also allow the professors to perform a joint research with Waseda University professors and the project is funded by Waseda. The professors of Waseda also can provide the opportunity to perform a joint seminar with students of Alzahra University. Sakurai: to send some of my students for Persian language studies

At the end of this meeting, a memorandum of understanding between two universities was sent to Japan to be signed by the Japanese side and sent to Alzahra University in November. The guests finally were invited to tour the university campus, faculties, and Termeh restaurant with more than 100 hundred years history, while the IAC's director and staff accompanied the delegation.

21 September 2015