Study sustainable development in amazing Japan, with superb mass transportation, low crime, and endless things to do and see! This ten-week summer program is home based on the campus of Kobe University, one of Japan’s premier institutions of higher learning. One week of the program is devoted to exploring the beautiful Japanese countryside, including visits to Tokyo, Kanazawa and Shirakawago, Kyoto, Nara, and Hiroshima. Through field trips, lectures, and cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural problem-based learning, this program equips students with the tools needed to understand the complex issues of sustainable development.
Japan offers the perfect natural laboratory for studying sustainable development. The program is based in Kobe, a picturesque port city in close proximity to Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and other amazing sites. Japan boasts a low crime rate, peerless mass transit system, progressive energy and environmental protection policies, and farsighted planning for disaster prevention and urban development. Kobe is a hub in the Kansai Area, which presents a unique blending of traditional and modern as reflected in gleaming skyscrapers and bustling department stores alongside zen gardens, stately temples and shrines, and ancient arts. The travel portion of the program includes visits to historically and culturally important sites that offer insights into Japan’s unique culture and society. In this way, the Japan Summer Program in Sustainable Development highlights the challenges of sustainable development in modern megaregion and in diverse settings – all within Japan’s unique socio-cultural and institutional context. Each of the program’s four courses brings Georgia Tech students together with Kobe University students in cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural teams tasked with devising solutions to real-world sustainability problems. See how this comes together in a student-produced video from the 2019 program.
Dates: May 21 – July 30, 2023… 12 credits 
Open to all students, but of special interest to those pursuing the
- Global Development Minor
- East Asian Studies Minor
- International Affairs Minor
- International Plan
- Global Engineering Leadership Minor
There are no prerequisites or language requirements.
Although this is a Georgia Tech program, students from other universities are welcome to apply. If accepted, non-Georgia Tech students would pay an additional $250 enrollment fee.
This Program is affiliated with Georgia Tech’s Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain.
