The University of Worcester has welcomed the news that Professor Nobuko Tanaka-Hibino has been appointed to the Board of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Organising Committee.
Professor Tanaka-Hibino is an Honorary Professor at the University and has played a significant role in the University’s partnerships in Japan.
Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor and Head of the School of Sport and Exercise Science, Mick Donovan, said: “Congratulations to Nobuko on this appointment. We are all very pleased to hear this news.
“Nobuko has been an excellent colleague and Honorary Professor over many years and has willingly worked with our staff and students as a teacher, mento and researcher.”
The University of Worcester has welcomed several delegations from Japan in recent years, including Japan Para Sport Association, leading sports universities and sport facility architects, who have been keen to learn about the University’s approach to inclusive and Paralympic sport, with a particularly strong interest in the Arena as a specialist accessible facility.
Professor David Green CBE, the University’s Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, who led the most recent delegation of UK universities to Japan in 2018, said: “Professor Nobuko Tanaka-Hibino has been and is a true ambassador and protagonist for inclusive and Paralympic sport. Passionately committed to fairness in society, as well as sport, she is playing a transformative role for the good in Japan and around the world. This appointment is a real step forward. It is a sincere tribute to, and official recognition of, Professor Tanaka-Hibino’s qualities and record.”
The University of Worcester enjoys a highly successful partnership with Toin University of Yokohama, where Professor Tanaka-Hibino teaches, with students taking part in exchange programmes.
In 2018, Professor Tanaka-Hibino joined the University of Worcester team that was selected to present at the world’s top international education conference Going Global which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.