The Kotaka Room

16 May 2014

We are delighted to announce that the seminar room in the Graduate Centre has now officially been named The Kotaka Room.

This celebrates the College’s relationship with Otsuma Gakuin in Tokyo, which was founded by Kotaka Otsuma who was a pioneer of women’s education in Japan. Professor of Otsuma Women’s University and Principal of Otsuma Jr. & Sr. High School, Misako Inoue, visited Hertford on Monday 12 May for an official signing ceremony, together with Alison Beale and Mayumi Azuma from the Oxford University Japan Office.

Julia Thaxton, Development Director and Fellow of Hertford College, said:

We are delighted that Otsuma have chosen to strengthen their relationship with Hertford in this way. As one of the first mixed colleges in Oxford, it is fitting that we celebrate Kotaka Otsuma’s contribution to education in Japan in the same year that we mark 40 years of co-education at Hertford. We have been welcoming Otsuma’s students to the College as part of our summer programmes since 2004, and now they will have the opportunity to enjoy their Oxford experience in the Kotaka Room.