The history of international exchanges at Hokkai-Gakuen dates back to1980, when Hokkaido and the province of Alberta in Canada signed a sister agreement. This signing prompted an exchange between the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and Hokkai-Gakuen, which led to the signing of an official Agreement of Exchange in 1985. Since then this exchange has expanded steadily and there now exist several programs. They include a 4-week summer exchange for groups of up to 20 students, exchanges of academic staff, exchanges of students for longer terms and recently the exchange of student groups from the respective Faculties of Business Administration. The outstanding success of these international exchanges has been recognized by the Province of Alberta. Hokkai-Gakuen considers the exchange with the University of Lethbridge to be foundation of all the international exchange programs currently in place at Hokkai-Gakuen's two universities, Hokkai-Gakuen University and Hokkai School of Commerce, and two high schools, Hokkai High School and Hokkai-Gakuen Sapporo High School. Educational institutions with which Hokkai-Gakuen has collaborative agreements for exchanges of faculty and students and for the holding of lectures and symposiums are as follows: Hokkai-Gakuen University The University of Lethbridge and Brock University (Canada); Daejeon University (Korea); Shenyang Agricultural University and Liaoning University (China); Siberian Transport University, Novosibirsk State University and Sakhalin State University (Russia) Hokkai School of Commerce The University of Lethbridge (Canada); Daejeon University (Korea); Yantai University and Shandong University at Weihai (China) Hokkai High School Lethbridge Collegiate Institute and Brock University (Canada) Hokkai-Gakuen Sapporo High School Lethbridge Collegiate Institute (Canada) Hokkai-Gakuen also contributes to international cooperation projects initiated by the Association of Private Universities of Japan. Hokkai-Gakuen participated early in the fostering of young talent in the regions of China which had not until then received the benefits from international development policies. In 1982 Hokkai-Gakuen first welcomed researchers from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, and in 1986 researchers from the Xinjiang Uygur region were also received at Hokkai-Gakuen. A number of talented researchers who have successfully completed their studies are now back in their respective regions, devoting themselves to their development. Hokkai-Gakuen also has a history covering several decades of exchanges with Mongolia. It has received researchers from the Government of Mongolia, The Mongolian University of Science and Technology and The Mongol University of Commerce. In addition, Hokkai-Gakuen has promoted academic exchanges with educational and research institutions in China, Korea and Vietnam through international conferences and symposiums arranged by the Hokkai-Gakuen Institute for Northeast Asia Studies (HINAS). The history of academic exchanges with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is particularly long. Its Hokkaido office was established on the eighth floor of Hokkai School of Commerce in 2006, when a formal exchange agreement was signed. Hokkai-Gakuen also promotes academic exchanges with The Institute of Development for Asia and Africa, the Development Research Centre of the State Council of the People's Republic of China based on exchange agreements also signed in 2006.