On research, a medium-term plan for the Faculty of Agriculture says, "While we have almost successfully achieved cooperation with intellectual property managers and local research institutes, international cooperation is important for the future." Specifically, it says, "We will promote academic research exchange with Asian and domestic research institutes and attempt to give back the fruits of research to society through industry/academia/government joint research." Concerning the objective of internationalizing education, the plan says, "We will implement proactive participation in international programs and projects and local experience-based education to promote students' international exchange."
The Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences and the Institute of Tropical Agriculture have implemented education and research initiatives to promote internationalization mainly in Asia over the past nearly 20 years (see Figure 1).

Particularly, we have developed close relations with universities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Students from ASEAN countries accounted for 63% of foreign students in the Master's program and 34% of those in the Doctor's program on an average basis over the past five years for the International Development Research Course (hereinafter referred to as the special course) for foreign students at the Kyushu University Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, which opened in 1994 and has turned out a total of 199 foreign students on the Master's and Doctor's programs during its 17-year history. Vietnamese students have accounted for the largest share of ASEAN students. In the past five years, Vietnamese represented 30.4% of foreign students in the Master's program and 11.1% of those in the Doctor's program. Our joint or cooperative research with Vietnam has been prosperous. Over the past five years, Kyushu University's Faculty of Agriculture dispatched teachers to Vietnam in 77 cases. Among ongoing major projects with Vietnam are the Crop Development in Mountainous Regions of Northern Vietnam (an international science and technology cooperation project addressing global challenges) (FY2010-2015, JST-JICA) and the Integrated Water Environment Management Tool for River Basins in Southeast Asian Emerging Countries (an Asia/Africa academic infrastructure development project) (FY2012-2014, JSPS).
Global challenges facing humans include "the global ecosystem's maintenance and food production for the population of 9-10 billion," "poverty reduction," "enhancing peace and stability," and "human health promotion in developing and developed countries." These challenges are closely related to agriculture. Expectations concerning agriculture are significant and diverse. It is important for universities to explore solutions to these global challenges and nurture leaders in developing international standards and rules from the long-term reciprocal viewpoint. In order to solve complicated global problems, universities are required to take "more cooperative, international and interdisciplinary approaches." Agriculture researchers are required to "try to expand knowledge."
In order to nurture leading international experts, we will have to pursue practical global education, develop education based on real communication experiences and implement graduate school education using the world as a campus. International agriculture education based on real experiences has been conducted at many agricultural universities in foreign countries. Such education has contributed to reviewing and improving students' international understanding and their respective countries' agriculture and agronomics.

Given the background, we will implement the following three reforms to promote the activation of more practical global education and research:

1. Creating a Promotive Center for International Education and Research of Agriculture as an affiliate of the Faculty of Agriculture. details
   The center will consist of (1) the Agriculture Production Unit, (2) the Tropical Microbiology Unit, (3) the Agro-production and Environmental Conservation Unit, (4) the Agricultural and Rural Development Economics Unit, and (5) the International Relations Unit.
2. The Institute of Tropical Agriculture will reorganize its present two sections into three -- Tropical Crops & Environment, Land-water Resources & Environment Conservation, and International Development. Some teachers of the institute will participate in the planned center’s Agro-production and Environmental Conservation Unit, Agricultural and Rural Development Economics Unit, and International Relations Unit. details
3. In order to enhance and promote global agribio education and research through the planned center, we will create satellite campuses at ASEAN universities with which we have concluded academic exchange agreements. In the first step, the Kyushu University’s Promotive Center for International Education and Research of Agriculture will establish its Vietnam satellite campus at Hanoi University of Agriculture. details

The entire picture of the (1)-(3) reforms is illustrated in Figure 3.