Attracting foreign talent to Japan's universities

The Yomiuri Shimbun's "Revitalizing Japan" series has been focusing on how to rebuild the country from the Great East Japan Earthquake.

In the previous section, we looked at how individual regions' growth through their unique characteristics could lead to reconstruction of the entire country.

The following is the first installment in the second section of the "Creative use of land" part of a series of articles examining ways to restore Japan's vitality after the March 11, 2011, disaster.

This section will examine how to secure talented human resources for the development of regions--and the nation.

Shenzhen Virtual University Park, a research institute in Shenzhen, is drawing an increasing amount of attention as the supply source for talented human resources in the rapidly developing, southern Chinese city with a population of 14 million.

The "virtual" institution, which was established in 1999, comprises offices and laboratories for more than 50 domestic and international universities, including prestigious universities such as Peking University and Tsinghua University.

In Shenzhen, which used to be a fishing village with a population of 30,000 before it was designated as a special economic zone, the supply of human resources has always been a weakness.

"The city would be unable to continue its development just because it's a special economic zone unless it can secure excellent human resources," said Zhang Keke, deputy director of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institution, as he recalled the sense of urgency he felt at the time.

Zhang had worked hard to open the university park.

Building a university that was attractive to highly capable students and researchers from scratch would require a tremendously long period of time.

Therefore, Zhang came up with the idea of putting together campuses that were extensions of top-level domestic universities.

At the same time, he encouraged exchanges between participating universities and local businesses so the project could contribute to the city's industrial development.

"The school can attract talented human resources because top-level universities have established campuses there," said Tetsuya Miki, special adviser to the president of The University of Electro-Communications, a Japanese university that joined the project.

More than 140,000 students have studied at the university park.

Exchanges between the university park, local government and businesses have helped establish human connections and networks for fund provisions.

As a result, more than 700 companies have been established by the institutes' graduates with the school's support.

According to data released by the Chinese government in February, Shenzhen topped the list of Chinese cities in terms of the number of applications for international patents for the eighth consecutive year in 2011.

As economic globalization intensifies competition among not only countries, but also cities, an increasing rivalry has sprung up to win talented human resources.

Countries and cities must now make maximum use of their knowledge and expertise to attract and secure qualified people.

Singapore, which is about the same size as the total combined area of Tokyo's 23 wards, has made its presence felt globally thanks to its economic development.

The country clearly presents its goals based on its national strategies and continues efforts to attract qualified workers.

Biopolis, an international research and development center for medical services and biotechnology, was established in Singapore in 2003.

About 2,000 researchers from 60 countries now fiercely compete to lead the race for state-of-the-art research and development projects.

Benjamin Seet, executive director of the Biomedical Research Council at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research, said attracting qualified human resources was of paramount importance.

"We must lure top-level scientists to us from both home and abroad," Seet said.

Aiming to establish its status as a global research center in biotechnology, Singapore has strived to nurture its human resources at home and bring over foreign researchers as part of its national strategy.

The number of researchers working in Singaporean public institutions and the private sector almost doubled from a decade earlier to 28,300 in 2010.

The concentration of advanced research in the country produced a virtuous cycle, resulting in increased foreign investment.

Koichi Narasaka, who began teaching at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University as a visiting professor after retiring from the University of Tokyo, praised Singapore's policy.

"The Singaporean government has a clear principle of linking research results with business," he said.

When applying for research grants from public organizations and universities in Singapore, one must answer the following question: What kind of benefit will your research bring to the country?

Once criticized for their conformity, a number of Japanese universities are now pursuing innovative efforts to attract competent students and faculty members.

On Feb. 27, a special seminar was held in Bangalore, a southern Indian city known for its focus on information technology, to commemorate the launch of the University of Tokyo's Indian office.

Until recently, universities in the United States and Britain were the overwhelmingly popular choice among Indian students wishing to participate in long-term study abroad programs.

Nilesh Vasa, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, said the number of IIT Madras students interested in studying in Japan began to increase five years ago as more Japanese companies expanded production in India.

The University of Tokyo opened an office in Bangalore so it would not miss the chance to draw Indian students to study at its facilities in Japan.

Sushant Kumar, a 21-year-old student, said he developed a strong interest in Japan's advanced technology from how the nation has been recovering from the Great East Japan Earthquake.

He also has concerns, however, about studying in Japan, due to his vegetarianism.

"If problems involving foreign students' special dietary needs are solved, this would largely eliminate obstacles to their desire to study in Japan," said Vice President Yoshihito Watanabe of Nagoya University, who attended the seminar.

Satisfying foreign students

Watanabe said efforts such as adjusting cafeteria menus at Japanese universities to suit foreign students' tastes will be a key indicator of whether Japanese schools can draw a larger number of foreign researchers and students.

There are about 2,550 foreign students at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, accounting for 40 per cent of the student body, making it one of the leading universities in Japan in terms of foreign enrollment.

The students come from 78 countries and territories, mainly from the Asia-Pacific region, though there are also students from Europe, the Middle East and other regions.

Lectures at the university are conducted in English, and student dormitories are adjacent to the campus to help students feel at ease in daily life.

The university has also ensured that students are able to eat meals suited to their regular habits.

Vegetarian food is available at the university's cafeteria, as is halal food for Muslim students who cannot eat pork or drink liquor.

According to university officials, cooking equipment used for dishes with pork is not used for preparing halal food.

Cafeteria management also check whether seasonings and condiments, such as soy sauce, contain distilled alcohol.

These efforts have helped the university succeed in satisfying its foreign students, leading to an increasing number of applicants from overseas, the officials said.

They also said the university has prioritized creating close relationships with high schools and administrative agencies in foreign countries through the good offices of university graduates and others.

The school has overseas offices in eight countries and regions, including Taiwan, and sets up booths at college fairs for students wishing to study abroad.

However, Yasuharu Abe, chief of the university's student recruitment department, said, "We can't compete with prestigious schools from the United States and Europe by simply setting up our booths at college fairs.

"To generate interest in our university among talented students, we must make efforts rarely seen at prestigious US and European universities," he added.

In addition to contending with overseas schools in the scramble for students, competition among Japanese universities has also intensified due to the chronically low birthrate.

The number of applicants for entrance exams at state-run and public universities dropped to about 495,000 this year, compared to about 620,000 when the National Center for University Entrance Exams began administering uniform preparatory tests in 1990.

Some universities have already been forced to suspend enrollment activities for new students.

Nearly 50 state-run and other publicly operated universities have merged in the past decade, mainly in areas outside major cities.

The mergers were primarily aimed at ensuring the universities continue to play a key role in fostering human resources for their respective regions.

There also have been nationwide moves to form consortiums to jointly undertake tasks such as developing human resources and utilizing the characteristics of each region in research activities.

The Iwate High-Education Consortium, which comprises five universities in Iwate Prefecture, will transmit the schools' liberal arts programs and other courses to three high schools in the coastal cities of Kuji, Ofunato and Kamaishi via a video-conferencing system from April.

Emphasize Japan's strengths

Iwate Prefecture is faced with the task of boosting the prefecture's university enrollment rates, which have been lower than the national average.

The five-university consortium is aimed at helping increase the enrollment rate of high school graduates in coastal area schools within the prefecture, to develop human resources conducive to facilitating reconstruction projects related to the March 11 disaster.

Iwate University Vice President Yoshihito Takahata stressed he wanted to see many high school students and graduates interested in the affairs of disaster-hit areas' local communities.

In addition to these measures, the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda created the Council on Promotion of Human Resources for Globalization Development in February to promote the "development of human resources capable of playing a role on the global stage."

It will conduct studies about what should be done to secure competent, academically talented human resources to address global problems.

Prof. Narasaka of Nanyang Technological University said, "Japan pursues a high level of basic research activities, and we must hammer out a well-defined strategy to draw highly talented people from overseas that uses these basic research projects."

Success in tackling this challenge will be of crucial significance as Japan carves out its future at the local and national level.

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