From March 22 (Sunday) to March 26 (Thursday), 2025, Associate Professor Yukiko Yamamoto, Deputy Director of the NipCA Project, attended the 68th Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) held in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
CIES is one of the largest international conferences in the field of comparative and international education, with over 4,000 members from more than 120 countries. This year’s conference was held in both online and onsite formats. Professor Yamamoto participated onsite and gave a presentation. The theme of this year’s conference was “Envisioning Education in a Digital Society,” and a variety of sessions related to this theme were held throughout the event.
On the final day of the conference, March 26 (Thursday), Professor Yamamoto gave a presentation titled “Do I Need to Give Up Study Abroad Due to the War? Alternative Russian Study-Abroad Programs in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan” in the session “Spotlight Asia: Spotlight on International Students – Perspectives from East Asia.” Her research focused on alternative study-abroad options in Central Asia in response to the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war, which has made language study in Russia increasingly difficult.
Her study analyzed surveys and reports from students who studied abroad in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan for the purpose of learning Russian. The findings revealed that, beyond language acquisition, participants experienced numerous additional benefits such as discovering new aspects of Central Asian countries and cultures, gaining new self-awareness, and increased motivation for continued learning. While digitalization has enabled online study abroad, this research reaffirmed the unique value of physically immersing oneself in a Russian-language environment overseas.
During the conference, Professor Yamamoto also participated in various sessions and engaged in meaningful exchanges with researchers from around the world, making the experience a highly enriching one.
