2015年12月2日水曜日

Letter from New York

久しぶりの更新になってしまいました。大沼です。
高専のグローバル化に向けた研修のため、4月より1年間、沼津高専を離れています。関係者の皆様には、不在の間ご迷惑をおかけしています。

現在は、アメリカのニューヨークに滞在していますが、この間に、ニコラスというコロンビア人の学生と知り合い、沼津高専で教えている専門科目の内容を教えました。
そのニコラスから、沼津高専の学生に宛てたメッセージをもらいましたので、本人に許可をもらって、ここで紹介します。

ニコラスは、コロンビアでエンジニアの経験があり、ニューヨークで英語を学んだ後、ヨーロッパへ留学する準備をしているところです。コロンビアの大学で学んだことと日本で教えていることを比較して、それを踏まえた上で、最後に沼津高専の皆さんに向けた力強い励ましの言葉を語ってくれています。
ちょっと長い英語のメッセージですが、ぜひ原文のまま読んでみてください。




National Institute of Technology
November 30th 

Dear students and professors of Japan

The next text describes my experience gotten during the seminar headed by the associate professor Takumi Ohnuma.

During my stay in New York, I had the opportunity of meeting many people, among which there are many professors of the National Institute of Technology and with whom I developed a special friendship. As soon as I knew that some of my classmates were Japanese­university professors, my attention got interested in them and in what they could teach me. Consequently, I decided to talk to them and to try to become their friend. Since then, we have learned about our cultures, our different personalities and perspectives, and English, of course. However, that has not been all. After having shared many things together, the professor, Doctor Ohnuma, or “Tam” which is how I friendly call him, proposed me to develop a seminar that we posteriorly called “Motor English Seminar.” While we had halal food or a cup of coffee, we scheduled our every­week meeting. In this seminar, he taught me about advanced electric circuit theory, some physical principles, industrial and non­industrial applications of permanent magnets synchronous motors, and sensor and sensorless control used in this kind of motors. Having taken those classes with professor Ohnuma expanded my knowledge about electrical engineering, motivated me to learn more about it, and, parallely, allowed me to compare my educational background and Colombian educational methods with professor Ohnuma’s method and what he usually teaches in his university.

During the seminar, I realized that most Colombian universities instruct their students to maintain our industrial production but not to add an extra value in our products or to innovate. This simple difference is the reason why Japan is a remarkable industrial country and why Japan is what it is. Japanese professionals are accustomed to looking further. Nevertheless, to keep doing so, in Japan, and to start to do so, in Colombia, the universities must capacitate the next generation of professionals to be efficient and effective, to look forward to our brightest future, and to creatively solve any kind of problems. However, the commitment is not only to the universities but also to the students that are part of these institutions. The future of our countries depends on how well educated the new professionals are and will be. “Don't give in even though mathematics and physics get more difficult sometimes” would be my advice for many students who are struggling with these subjects because the future of a nation, a planet, and a species depends on them.


Thankfully,

Engineer Nicolas Mosquera Hernandez.