The three-day UGSAS-GU Roundtable and Symposium 2015 based on the IC-GU12 alliance started on August 5 in Gifu, and its curtain has been rung down with a big splash on August 27. The UGSAS-GU (doctoral course) of Gifu University, its Graduate School of Applied Biological Sciences (master's course) and the Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology (master's course), Shizuoka University hosted this event, and it included 14 member universities and three observing universities from seven Asian countries all together.

　At the roundtable meeting on the first day, as many as 91 academic and scientific professionals including invited vice-president/chancellor and young researchers/alumni(ae) of the IC-GU12 partners and the UGSAS-GU made progress reports about Dual/Double Degree Program (DDP/DPDP), Sandwich Program and public relations for the consortium, and they also actively made some proposals for the future of the consortium

　In the International Symposium 2015 on the second day, the invited professors of the IC-GU12 members and the UGSAS-GU researchers/alumni(ae) gave presentations on the latest researches in biological and agricultural sciences. In the plenary session held in the morning, three researchers/scientists distinguished in overseas academia addressed keynote lectures on behalf of each of the following three focused subfields; food and natural chemistry, environmental sciences, and microbiology and biochemistry. Three sub-sessions were held following the plenary session, and six presentations given by young researchers in each sub-session encouraged further discussion and networking in each subfield. Meanwhile, a delegation composed of the IC-GU12 members made a courtesy call to Dr. Hisataka Moriwaki, President of Gifu University. Following the symposium, the currently enrolled doctoral and master's students of the hosting institutions exhibited presentation posters and introduced 33 topics of their successful and recent researches in the "Poster Session 2015." Finally, this day honorably ended with four winners of "Poster Award 2015" indicating excellence of research content and presentation style.

　In the morning of the last day, the specially arranged campus tour introduced University Hospital, General Research Building, University Library, Health Administration Center and International House of Gifu University to the IC-GU12 members; so that the IC-GU12 allied members can visualize the educational, research and living environment surrounding international students in Gifu University. In the afternoon, a member of the Industry Subcommittee*, Amano Enzyme Inc. accommodated the members and the students by providing a special industry tour of their laboratory. The wide-open lab space and sanitary- and safety-oriented work environment was impressive. This tour made us conclude that there existed mutually satisfying interest/expectation between students and Japanese industry: International students expect to be employed by Japanese industries after doctorate completion, while Japanese industry would like to employ international doctorate recipients with effective overseas research and marketing.

* Industry Subcommittee is composed of seven companies in the Tokai Region specializing in biological and biotechnological research and development. Its founding objective is to support the UGSAS-GU education and researches from the business point of view in order to cultivate doctoral students into highly-skilled professionals.