City Base for promoting Japanese

PUNE: Sample this. Over 2,600 people from the city, majority of them students, appear in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) annually. This makes it the country’s largest pool of Japanese language learners in the four proficiency levels that the JLPT offers.

Bigger cities like Delhi and Bangalore account for far less candidates at 800 and 600 respectively each year. Pune has close to 22 amateur as well as professional bodies, including the odd individual tutor, offering courses in Japanese.

It is but natural that the Japanese Student Services Organisation (Jasso) — a body of Japan’s ministry of education entrusted with the task of promoting Japanese education world-wide — is looking at Pune as a crucial base for promoting higher education offered by Japanese universities. Assisting Jasso in this effort is the Mombusho Scholars Association of India (Mosai), a motley group of 1,200-odd people who have bagged the Mombusho scholarship (regarded as the Japanese equivalent of the US’ Fulbright scholarship) since the 1960s.

"Pune has 12 Mombusho scholars," Mosai vice-president Umesh Joshi told TOI on Wednesday. On Thursday, the city will host over 19 premier universities from Japan, a mix of national as well as private varsities, for the first ever ‘Japan education fair’ (supported by the Japanese government) at the Abasaheb Garware College from 11 am to 5 pm.

"The universities will not only showcase the wide array of courses in fields ranging from arts, science and commerce to professional engineering and medicine, but also make presentations on scholarships other than Mombusho," said Joshi. "At the lower end, the scholarships are up to 6 lakh Japanese yen (Rs 3 lakh) per annum, inclusive of cost for modest living and learning," Joshi said. The higher-end scholarships cover 100 per cent expenses and can go up to 50 lakh yen per annum.

Jasso itself offers special scholarships to students clearing the Examination for Japanese Universities (EJI), an equivalent of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). That apart, private universities are not to be left behind on this front, said Joshi. He said the present level of students going from India to Japan for higher studies was much less compared to those reaching the Land of the Rising Sun from the US and Europe.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/City_base_for_promoting_Japanese/articleshow/2427156.cms