(L-R) Associate Professor Helen Vella Bonavita, Deputy Consul-General of Japan Mr Daisuke Hasegawa, ECU Vice-Chancellor Professor Clare Pollock, TCU President Mr Tomonari Yashiro, ECU Chancellor Ms Gaye McMath and ECU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) Mr Jake Garman at the 10th anniversary TAP celebration. Image: Kylie Plunkett.
A delegation of senior officials from Tokyo City University (TCU) visited Perth in October to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a trailblazing student mobility program that has welcomed more than 1,600 Japanese students to Edith Cowan University (ECU) since 2016.
The Tokyo City University Australia Program (TAP) at ECU is an intensive 16-week study abroad program that invites TCU students to engage in lingual, academic and cultural learning at ECU.
Through the first 10 years of the program, the relationship between the two universities has flourished as TAP developed into the largest student mobility program between Japan and Australia.
The 10th anniversary of TAP was commemorated through a series of events at ECU City Campus and Joondalup Campus on Wednesday, 7 October and Thursday, 8 October.
Led by TCU President Dr Tomonari Yashiro, the delegation attended the opening of the state-of-the-art ECU City Campus, celebrated the achievements of the ECU-TCU partnership to date, and explored new opportunities for its future.
TCU President Mr Tomonari Yashiro and ECU Vice-Chancellor Professor Clare Pollock at the TAP 10-year anniversary celebration. Image: Kylie Plunkett.
More than 100 guests were invited to the formal 10th anniversary celebration, held at the Joondalup Campus which was followed by a Japan Festival, hosted by current TCU students that included an afternoon of cultural activities including calligraphy, crafting paper lanterns, and learning some Japanese vocabulary.
TCU student Kazuma Igarashi, one of 73 current TAP students, led the festivities at Thursday's Japan Festival.
"Through TAP and my experience in Australia, I have not only improved my English skills but also grown as a person," Igarashi said.
"Meeting people from diverse backgrounds and building meaningful friendships, especially with my buddies at ECU, has broadened my perspective and taught me the true value of cultural exchange."
ECU Vice-Chancellor Professor Clare Pollock joined a distinguished group of ECU staff in welcoming the TCU delegation to the TAP 10th anniversary celebrations and reflected on the program's positive impact on students from both institutions.
"What makes TAP special is that it creates a complete pathway for ECU students," Professor Pollock added.
"It begins with meeting international students on our campus, progresses to volunteering and leadership opportunities, and for many, leads to study, travel and professional development experiences overseas.
"Over the last decade, more than 1,600 TCU students have benefited from studying at ECU. But we should also celebrate the positive impact on more than 1,000 ECU students whose horizons have been broadened because of this partnership."
ECU Vice-Chancellor Clare Pollock at the Japan Festival. Image: Kylie Plunkett.
What is TAP?
Students taking part in TAP study English at Edith Cowan College for seven weeks, and academic units through the School of Arts & Humanities for a further six weeks.
Throughout their time at ECU, the visiting students also partake in social and cultural activities with "Buddy Ambassadors". Buddy Ambassadors are ECU students trained through the Experiencing Australia Program (EAP) who volunteer to support the visiting students in these activities.
More than 1,000 ECU students have become Buddy Ambassadors throughout the program's 10-year history.
ECU alumna Jessica Knight signed up to become a Buddy Ambassador in her first semester of study at the University. It was a role Knight excelled in, going on to volunteer across seven TAP cycles.
The TAP Buddy Ambassador role, led to other international study opportunities. Knight went on a study tour to Japan and then earned a prestigious New Colombo Plan Scholarship – an Australian government initiative that helps Australian undergraduate students to gain experience in the Indo-Pacific region through immersive, long-term structured learning and internships.
"When I started TAP, I'd never left Australia before. Now, I've lived, studied, and worked overseas," Knight said.
"Being a Buddy Ambassador let me build people-to-people connections and really made me feel like part of the community here at ECU, but it also opened doors I didn't even know existed.
"Through TAP, we get to be part of the ECU community and part of a broader international network. We get to build friendships and career-ready skills that shape our futures as well as our university experiences."
ECU Manager, Internationalisation Simon Davies Burrows has been involved in TAP since its inception. Looking back now, he's amazed at how the program has evolved thanks to the commitment from both ECU and TCU to making the program not only long-lasting, but truly effective and impactful for all students.
"Success has come down to both universities having a vision and remaining committed to that vision for 10 years," Davies Burrows said.
"It's been a cycle of continuous improvement; we work so closely as universities to make sure the student experience is at the heart of this program. That student experience relates to the TCU students coming in, but also relates to the buddy ambassadors volunteering to make it such a success."
(L-R) Executive Dean, School of Science Professor Stacey Reinke and Executive Dean, Education Professor Caroline Mansfield at the Japan Festival. Image: Kylie Plunkett.
What's next for the program?
It's been a big year for TAP in 2026, with steps taken to secure the long-term future of a flourishing partnership between ECU and TCU.
At the beginning of 2026, a new agreement commenced, continuing the TAP program at ECU until 2031.
In addition, over the next five years, both universities have agreed to expand the benefits of TAP and their institutional partnership, exploring deeper community engagement, increased outbound mobility and extending the reach of TAP for ECU-based students.
The TAP program has also offered other opportunities for partnership engagement.
ECU and TCU are founding members in the Asia-Oceania Five Universities Alliance (AOFUA). Through AOFUA, ECU students can benefit from additional mobility opportunities between ECU and TCU, as well as institutions in Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
In 2024, ECU and TCU launched a joint postgraduate program: a Joint Master of Environmental Studies, the first Australia-Japan joint masters program.
With 100 TCU students set to take part in TAP in Semester One, 2027, the program is on track to welcome its 2,000th TCU student to ECU in 2028 – yet another significant milestone in a student mobility program unlike any other in Australia.
