A conference of some 80 university presidents and experts from 23 countries will be held here Sunday and Monday.
Sponsored by Tohoku University, the conference is being organized to deepen the ties between Japanese universities and their international counterparts and to provide a forum for talks on the future of universities, according to the organizers.
The meeting will take place at the Sendai International Center in Miyagi Prefecture.
On the first day, participants will discuss matters such as creating joint international projects and the structure of student and faculty exchanges.
During the plenary session on the second day, there will be a panel discussion by representatives of universities including the Russian Academy of Sciences and the California Institute of Technology. The participants will then adopt a joint statement.
Alongside this conference, more than 70 academic meetings centered on the theme of high technology will be held starting Thursday at the same hall. More than 1,500 researchers nationwide are scheduled to take part.
A forum geared toward the public will be held the following day.
Shigenao Maruyama, a professor at the state-run Tohoku University and a member of the event's organizing committee, said, "Through the exchanges with students abroad, I would like to contribute to the internationalization of Japanese universities."