On 14th September in 2022, the first international exchange session, “cultural exchange” of Level 1 was held among SWU, KCL and TMDU.
For the first half of the session, students of SWU, KCL and TMDU met online, had presentations and discussion about introduction of their own countries, cultures, and universities, and deepened their mutual understandings.

For the latter half, breakout rooms were prepared, and everyone had small group free talk in a relaxed mood, facilitated by Dr. Yuna Kanamori, a Project Assistant Professor from Oral Diagnosis and General Dentistry, TMDU. They introduced themselves and exchanged information about each other’s countries in more detail.

This course will continue in the second international exchange session of Level 1 and in Levels 2 and 3. Beyond academic school years through undergraduate years, students of all the 3 universities are expected to mature together as dental students.

On 21st September 2022, the 2nd international exchange session of Level 1 was held among SWU, KCL and TMDU.
First, all the students attended an online lecture regarding aging/aged societies and oral function by Dr. Komagamine Yuriko, a Junior Associate Professor (Career Track) from the Department of Gerodontology and Oral Rehabilitation at TMDU and a lecture regarding problem-solving methods by Dr. Seki Naoko, a Junior Associate Professor from the Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) at TMDU.

Then, participants moved to 7 breakout rooms where everyone had small group discussion and used the problem-solving method they just learned to brainstorm problems in aging/aged societies and their solutions. The small-group discussions were facilitated by Senior Associate Professor Janelle Moross from IGA, TMDU, Dr. Yuna Kanamori, a Project Assistant Professor from Oral Diagnosis and General Dentistry, TMDU, Dr. Richard Foxton from IGA, TMDU and KCL, and 2 TMDU international graduate students. Participants considered how dental professionals could contribute to aging/aged societies, exchanged their opinions and 3 groups presented their results.

To conclude this session, Dr. Komagamine gave a lecture introducing evaluation methods of oral function in order to detect oral frailty or hypofunction. Then, Dr. Seki and Prof. Moross gave feedback on participants’ work in the main room session. After that, participants returned to their breakout rooms to deepen what they had learned in this session and realized the motivation to continuing studying together beyond academic years.

This course will continue in Levels 2 and 3, where cultural exchange and learning will help students from all the 3 universities to mature together as dental students.