UQ grateful for Japanese flood support

Friends from far and wide have helped a UQ partner university in Japan raise more than $2000 for those affected by the Queensland floods.

Fukushima University student So Sato said those in his local community, including exchange students from other countries, had shown strong support for the cause.

“When we campaigned on campus many students offered up donations and we hope this money will be able to assist those UQ staff and students who were victims of the floods,” Mr Sato said.

Head of the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies Associate Professor Greg Hainge said the strong relationship built between the two universities since 2001 would grow as a result of the appeal.

“This wonderfully generous act shows that the exchange relationships between UQ and its partner universities around the world are much more than simply administrative arrangements that allow student mobility. These are relationships that go far deeper and that build real links between people across institutions all over the globe,” he said.

Student organisation representatives and exchange students gave their time generously to the campaign, standing for hours outside of Fukushima Train Station in the freezing cold. Over the course of last weekend they managed to raise more than $2000.

The funds will be presented to UQ in a small ceremony on February 17 before being added to the Vice-Chancellor’s Emergency Student Welfare Fund Appeal – accessible to all affected UQ staff and students.

“It has not only been local residents who have been affected but international students as well,” SLCCS Director of Internationalisation and Engagement Dr Morris Low said.

“It’s terrific to see the University and its friends abroad coming to their assistance in this way.”

Media: Thomas Dunlop at SLCCS (07 3365 6914, t.dunlop@uq.edu.au)