Online Exchange Program between Prefectural and Overseas Universities for Consumer Education 2022

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Since 2021, Tokushima Prefecture has been conducting exchange meetings online between Tokushima universities and ASEAN universities, where initiatives are presented and opinions discussed about consumer education and other topics, in order to further build international cooperation in consumer policy with a focus on post-COVID-19.

In 2022, the venue participants and overseas universities connected online, and students took the lead in presenting and exchanging opinions under the theme of ”Practicing ’SDGs-oriented Consumption for the Future’ in the Digital Society.”

Furthermore, the participating universities in this project appeared at the Tokushima International Consumer’s Forum 2022 held on October 25, 2022, and presented their initiatives for this fiscal year.
 

Teachers from the participating schools, the coordinator, and the advisor, gathered to exchange opinions about this year’s exchange theme, etc.

As a result of the discussion, it was decided that this year, each school would create a handbook/guidebook suited to their university and country on what they should pay attention to in order to practice ethical consumption and consumption for the future as consumers.
 

After each university gave a presentation on the draft handbook they had come up with, the participants exchanged opinions with each other to polish up on what not to do.

The content varied from school to school, including a handbook with a wide range of content on achieving the SDGs, a handbook focusing on the influence of influencers and consumer damage, and a handbook on how to deal with digital devices as a consumer.
 

Representatives from each university presented interim reports on their handbooks at the future session of the Tokushima International Consumer’s Forum 2022.

Please refer to the Tokushima International Consumer’s Forum 2022 special website to see how it went.

Click here to visit the Tokushima International Consumer’s Forum 2022 special website.

Each school made a presentation on their university handbooks, which were revised based on the discussions from the first exchange meeting and the Tokushima International Consumer’s Forum 2022.

As general feedback, students commented that through the presentations by the other universities and the discussions held, they ”were able to think about ethical and sustainable consumption as their own business” and ”gained awareness by interacting with various people.”

The coordinator commented, ”I think the students felt the difficulty of finding their target audience and how to get people interested through the creation of this handbook. The completion of the handbook is not the end of the process, but precedes the next step of implementing the activities described in the handbook. I hope you don’t forget about the changes that will happen as a result of practicing these initiatives.” The advisor commented, ”I felt that all of the handbooks created by the schools were of a very high level and could be called works of art. Each country probably has its own unique perspective, so I hope that they can share these perspectives and spread them as messages from the youth.”
 

Each university created one this year. Please take a look at the handbooks created by bringing together the sensitivities and wisdom of young people.
Through this kind of inter-university exchange, Tokushima Prefecture will promote Tokushima as an international center for consumer policy.

※All information (text, photographs, illustrations, etc.) in the handbook may not be reproduced, used other than its intended purpose, or sold without the permission of Tokushima Prefecture and the university that produced the handbook, except in cases permitted under the Copyright Law, such as reproduction for private use and quotation.