A total of twelve students from the Faculty of Engineering and Technology (FET) engaged in a student exchange programme in Japan recently. The programme was hosted by FET and the Graduate School of Computer Science and System Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech), Iizuka Campus. It serves as an excellent avenue for our students to engage with students in Kyutech, as well as to understand the Japanese culture.

During the programme, the students were involved with several mechanical design and programming workshops, in which the FET students had the chance to work on together with the postgraduate students at Kyutech, innovating and improving their current competition projects such as tomato harvesting robot and fully automated pathway tracking Buggy. Hands-on experience such as Inventor modelling design, 3-D printing and Python programming were conducted throughout the programme. Furthermore, our students were also involved in the University’s Project-Based Learning (PBL) lectures, whereby the participants were divided into several groups together with the undergraduate students of Kyutech, to work on robotics project via Arduino programming.

Besides all the academics workshops, the students also visited some interesting places in Fukuoka, Japan, such as the Kokura Castle, Kanmon Undersea Pedestrian Tunnel which connects Kyushu and Honshu underwater, Mojiko, Tenjin, Hakata, Beppu and Tosu. The exchange program turned out to be a successful and beneficial event for the students. Both universities took the opportunity to discuss further on future collaborations and will continue to grow their partnership.