Chiharu Soejima, a third-year student at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan, is majoring in Agricultural Environmental Engineering. She is currently studying hydrology, soil mechanics, environmental geotechnics, structural mechanics, surveying, design, and data analysis. Since childhood, Chiharu has been deeply interested in solving global issues such as poverty, war, and inequality. However, as she delved deeper into her studies, she began to question whether her actions could truly address these issues and whether she is capable of making a meaningful contribution to global challenges. Determined to find answers, Chiharu decided to step out of her comfort zone and spend six months in Indonesia through the Asian International Mobility for Students (AIMS) program. read more

Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Gadjah Mada (Faperta UGM) facilitates seven students in AIMS program, one of them is Koko Nomura, a PhD student from the Department of Regional Agriculture Regional Symbiosis Course, Ibaraki University, Japan. She stated that she was driven by her curiosity to learn about the main course she interested in, that is related to annual crop in Indonesia, especially paddy.

Koko explained, she chose Gadjah Mada University because it has various faculties, so that he thought it will provide a nice environment for her to enhance her communication skills among others. In addition, she also showed her biggest motivation to learn at Faculty of Agriculture UGM because she can learn about non tilling way of crops growing way. read more