Tokai deal brings ‘unique partnership’ to UH West Oahu

A new partnership between Japan’s Tokai University and the University of Hawaii at West Oahu will help promote the state as a destination for international students, Chancellor Gene Awakuni said last week after the UH Board of Regents approved the sale of six acres of land, planned as part of the West Oahu campus, to Tokai.

The $6 million purchase will allow Hawaii Tokai International College to move from its Kapiolani Boulevard building and construct a new campus adjacent to the new UH-West Oahu campus in Kapolei.

The private Japanese college will also share programs, dorms and classroom space with UH-West Oahu students, Awakuni said.

"It creates a unique partnership between a Japanese university and the University of Hawaii," Awakuni said. "It gives us an immediate, international feel to the (UH-West Oahu) campus."

Naoto Yoshikawa, chancellor of Hawaii Tokai International College, said the partnership will allow Tokai University students to experience an American university campus atmosphere.

"It is a very important benefit for our students," Yoshikawa said. "Young people mixing together, becoming friends and understanding each other’s countries is the best way to promote globalization."

UH-West Oahu students will be able to participate in Tokai University programs in Japan, Korea and China, and students from the other Tokai University campuses will be able to participate in programs in Hawaii, Awakuni said. Students who graduate from the two-year Hawaii Tokai International College degree program will also be able to transition to UH-West Oahu for a four-year degree.

Construction on the new $100 million UH-West Oahu campus in Kapolei is on schedule to allow the campus to open in fall 2012, Awakuni said. The first phase of the campus will include a two-story, 41,136-square-foot classroom building, a two-story, 41,798-square-foot lab building and a 183-stall parking lot. The new campus will be able to accommodate 3,700 students, slightly more than double the current enrollment of 1,700.

The $6 million from the Tokai University land purchase will be used to buy furniture and equipment for the new campus, Awakuni said.

Hawaii Tokai International College is completing the sale of its high-rise building on Kapiolani Boulevard in McCully. Bids closed in July, with a minimum bid of $40 million, according to the prospectus for the sale.

Yoshikawa said Tokai is designing its new Kapolei campus and hopes to begin construction — if all the permits are obtained — early next year. Tokai hopes to finish construction in December 2013. The college will lease back its Kapiolani Boulevard building from the new owner until its Kapolei campus is completed.

Yoshikawa said the new Kapolei campus will be environmentally friendly and designed to be energy-efficient.

Tokai and UH-West Oahu will share student housing, which will be built and leased by a private developer, Awakuni said. UH-West Oahu will be reviewing bids and hopes to select the developer next month, Awakuni said. About 200 students will be able to live in townhouse apartments, which should be completed by 2013. About half the units will be reserved for Tokai students and about half for UH-West Oahu students.

Hawaii Tokai International College has about 200 full-time students taking English language and first- and second-year college classes, Yoshikawa said. An additional 3,000 to 5,000 high school, college and professional students come for short-term English language, American and Hawaiian cultural programs. Those programs last from one week to two months, he said.

The Hawaii campus is part of the larger Tokai University Educational System. With 10 campuses in Japan, it is one of the largest private university systems in Japan.

Further details of the sale of the six acres of UH-West Oahu land are not being released by the UH Board of Regents.

A spokeswoman for the UH system said information given to the regents before they approved the sale of public land will not be released to the public until after the transaction is completed.