Our Mission

Osaka University’s motto is, “Live locally, grow globally.” From our office in Berkeley, California, the North American Center for Academic Initiatives aims to give meaning to this motto by working to build close ties between the university and our American partners in academia, business, and local communities. Our mission is to initiate and promote the development of collaborative research projects and education abroad experiences commensurate with our standing as a world-class institution of higher learning.

In the 21st century, knowledge is power. We aim to empower humanity by opening paths for knowledge exchanges. This means creating international and cross-cultural understanding through faculty and student exchange agreements. Such formal ties enable student mobility and provide an institutional basis for productive and lasting relationships. Another part of our mission is to bridge academic and commercial worlds.

Osaka University is well-known in Japan, where it is generally called Handai. In cooperation with our sister centers in the Netherlands, Thailand, and China, the North American Center is working to raise Osaka University’s global profile. Handai is a world leader in immunology and biosciences, medicine, robotics, data science, and engineering. It is also a comprehensive university, located in the Osaka-Kansai area, one of the safest and most livable urban areas in the world. Whether you are a university student, an administrator, an academic researcher, or an industry person, we encourage you to contact us to explore how we might cooperate for mutual benefit.