| SIEN (Student International Exchange Network) Foundation | Pécs, Hungary |
Prof. Mitsugi Endo
The International Culture Week in Pécs is a complex summer school event that embeds a youth forum conference (focusing in its lectures on local democracy, democratic participation in societal and economic development) with cultural events, discussions, lectures, workshops, exhibitions, institution visits, field trips and NGO-meetings. In 2011 the title is 'Whose World?' - Transnationalism and Glocalisation in the 21st Century. The international youth event is organized every year (for the 15th time in 2011) and attracts 300 students and young people every summer. The lecture of Prof. Endo was among the most important presentations of the event, and he received numerous questions from the audience, clearly showing what a sensible topic he touched.
Political Scientist. A graduate of University of Tokyo and University of York (UK), he has been involved in research on a variety of issues of African politics, including democratization, civil society, and collapsed states. He has experience of research over a dozen of African countries. He has worked for Advanced Social and International Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo for more than eighteen years and appointed professor in 2007 and director of newly established Center for African Studies, Institute for Advanced Global Studies, University of Tokyo last year. He is teaching African Politics and International Relations in some other universities in Japan. He is also board member of three Japanese academic associations, namely the Japan Association of International Relations, the Japan Association for Comparative Politics, and the Japan Association of African Studies. Additionally, he is involved in Japanese NGO activities and board member of both Millennium Promise Japan and newly forming Human Security Forum.
The Student International Exchange Network (SIEN) Foundation organises student conferences, youth meetings, trainings, educational discussions, bi- and multi-lateral exchange programmes, cultural days on local, regional, and international level, publication of brochures and magazines now for 11 years. The primary objectives of the SIEN Foundation are to provide opportunities for young people, basically students, for mobility, skill-development, civic and professional contacts, and experiencing cultural diversity (and similarity) so as to enhance tolerance, intercultural dialogue, active citizenship, and cross-border co-operation. Our most significant long-term project is the International Culture Week in Pécs (ICWiP), one of the most prestigious and traditional thematic youth events in Central Europe. ICWiP is organised every year in July, for the 15th time in 2011.
