It has been half a century since Kansai University of Foreign Studies (Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture) began concluding agreements with overseas universities and dispatching its students abroad while accepting international students. In May 2026, agreements were signed with universities in Turkey and Vietnam, bringing the total number of overseas partner universities to 428 institutions in 55 countries and regions as of the end of June. The network of partner universities, which began with two institutions in the United States in 1972, has been expanding year by year. ▲ Chairman Eiko Tanimoto signs at the signing ceremony (left) Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University is a national comprehensive university with a rare Japanese language education department in Turkey, which trains Japanese language teachers. Chairman Eiko Tanimoto attended the signing ceremony for the agreement held on-site in May, with Consul General Ryoji Iwama of the Consulate General of Japan in Istanbul in attendance. The Faculty of Education at the university was holding its "Day of Japan" event, and attendees were able to observe club activities introducing Japanese culture and converse with students from the Japanese language education department. FPT University in Vietnam offers cutting-edge IT and practical business education and currently accepts 1,000 international students annually. The university aims to further deepen exchanges with Vietnam, which is experiencing remarkable economic growth in the Asian region. Kansai University of Foreign Studies currently dispatches approximately 1,300 of its students to overseas universities annually, while accepting approximately 1,100 international students from overseas universities. ▲ Send-off ceremony for long-term dispatched international students (December 2025) ▲ Orientation for international students (January 2026) ▲ International students who studied at Kansai Gaidai in the Spring 2026 semester Looking at the partner universities by country and