Two students earn Japanese scholarship

Two St. Cloud State University students studying at Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, Japan have been awarded the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) Scholarship for exchange students.

James Lyons, Big Lake and Mehdi Nabil, St. Paul, will receive 480,000 Japanese Yen, which exchanges to $3,895.53 to be used from December 2015 through May 2016. The scholarship aims to help financially and encourage recipients to do well in their studies while at Seinan Gakuin.

“The University was one of the first schools in Japan to establish a foreign exchange program with universities overseas, thus creating a long tradition of welcoming students from other lands,” said Nao Fukami from the Center for International Education at Seinan Gakuin.

JASSO is an independent administrative institution established under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbukagakusho).

The purpose of these programs is to foster the development of creative individuals who will become the leaders of society in the next generation, while at the same time promote international understanding and exchange.

Seinan Gakuin was founded in 1916 by C. K. Dozier of the Foreign Mission Board in the United States. Dozier went to Japan in 1906 as a missionary.