Teacher training: University of Münster cooperates with Japanese university
The University Centre for Teacher Education (ZfL) of the University of Münster and the Hyogo University of Teacher Education in Japan (HUTE) will cooperate more closely in the future. Following the signing of a "Memorandum of Understanding" this week (23 to 27 September), twelve Japanese teacher training students and one professor will visit Münster for the first time.
The aim of the partnership is the exchange of students and lecturers from both countries. "With the mutual visits we deepen the dialogue on questions of teacher training in Germany and Japan. This exchange is particularly exciting because Japan, as an industrial nation like Germany, has to master certain social and economic challenges, but in some cases it is taking different approaches," emphasizes Dr. Martin Jungwirth, administrative director of the ZfL. The Japanese group will, for example, visit University of Münster facilities, the Center for Practical Teacher Education, schools and a kindergarten.
The new cooperation is attributable to Prof. Dr. Tatsuya Ozeki from HUTE, who spent a year as a guest researcher at the Institute for Educational Sciences at the University of Münster until March 2018. After a visit by representatives of the ZfL and the District Government of Münster to Japan last autumn, the two universities finally concluded the "Memorandum of Understanding". There are currently 13 further partnership agreements at the University of Münster with Japanese universities and institutions.
The University Centre for Teacher Education
The University Centre for Teacher Education is an independent organisational unit of the University of Münster. It is responsible for the interdisciplinary promotion of academic teacher training and for advising the Rectorate on all specialist issues in this field. The main areas of work are study counselling and coordination, practical phases as well as research, transfer and further education. Almost one in four of the 45.000 students at the University of Münster study to become teachers – making the University of Münster one of the largest teacher-training universities in Germany.