On 24 February 2025 students from Hitotsubashi University (HTU) in Japan visited AREA Ruhr. The students were participants of HTU’s global leaders program who traveled through Europe for about a week, also spending one day in Duisburg to learn more about the issue of “migration” in Germany.
In the morning, the group met for a joint seminar with students from RUB and UDE. After giving a presentation that compared various aspects of migration in Japan and Germany, HTU’s students entered into a lively discussion with their RUB and UDE peers.
In the afternoon, the group, now also including UDE and RUB students, were joined by Uta Hohn, AREA Ruhr associate member and RUB-professor of International Urban and Metropolitan Studies/Geography and visited a grammar school in Duisburg Hochfeld to discuss migration-related challenges in education with the headmistress of an elementary school. Later on, the group also had an appointment with the head of the Municipal Integration Center of the City of Duisburg to learn more about the administrative aspects of migration. After a day with much input and insights, the students went back to the premises of AREA Ruhr for sharing their impressions and having pizza. The one-day event was planned and organized by AREA Ruhr professor Katja Schmidtpott (Japanese History, RUB).