Junya Ogasawara, a second-year student in J. F. Oberlin University Graduate Division’s School of Language Education, gave a presentation at the Second United Nations Academic Impact Seoul Forum, on May 20. Ogasawara spoke about ASPIRE (Action by Students to Promote Innovation and Reform through Education), a student-run initiative designed to foster leadership skills, of which he is a member. J. F. Oberlin is one of the global hubs of United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), a partnership between the UN and a worldwide consortium of universities.

The forum was held as part of UNESCO’s World Education Forum 2015. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave opening remarks, followed by speeches by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and others. In all, over 100 people from many countries took part. In his remarks, Secretary-General Ban mentioned J. F. Oberlin as the institution that founded ASPIRE, and he praised ASPIRE’s efforts to raise worldwide awareness of global issues.