CQU's Chris Lucas shows visiting professor from Japan Associate Professor Kanaho Matsuda CQU's videoconferencing facilities.Central Queensland University welcomed Japanese Associate Professor Kanaho Matsuda to the Rockhampton campus this week to share CQU's experience and knowledge in online learning and cooperative education.

Professor Matsuda, a key academic from the Tomakomai National College of Technology in Tomakomai, is developing a telecommunications system between her college and an institute in New Zealand.

She hopes to draw on CQU's wealth of knowledge in video-conferencing, communicating across global campuses, and online collaborative learning.

"This is the first attempt for us to use telecommunication equipment, so we would like to get more information and hints about how to make good use of this system," Ms Matsuda explained.

She also hopes to learn more about online collaborative learning - how the system is conducted here at CQU and what programs students can study through the system.

She is keen to witness how cooperative education works here at CQU, particularly in the area of engineering.

Associate Professor Kanaho Matsuda gets a few tips about flexible course delivery by CQU's Chris Lucas."Most of our students become engineers after graduation, and now they need not only their skills, but practical experience in the industry.

"The idea of co-op education is getting more and more known in Japan, and we hope we can draw some useful information on co-op education from CQU and put into practice to our education curriculum."

Ms Matsuda toured the campus on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.