To stay competitive, more schools are welcoming international students and teachers, promoting bilingual programs of study and encouraging young Japanese to study abroad.
For Mai Hoai Giang, a student from Vietnam, securing a job in Japan after graduation couldn't have been easier. No less than 300 corporate recruiters flocked to her school, the Asia Pacific University (APU), which prides itself on bilingual programs. Giang, who is fluent in Japanese, English and Vietnamese, was snapped up by Fast Retailing Co. and is now working as a Uniqlo shop assistant manager in Tokyo. Eventually, she hopes to be transferred to her home country, where the retailer is expanding. "I've always wanted to be in an international environment," she says.
Japan could use a lot more people like Giang. Faced with anemic economic growth, an aging workforce and a shrinking population, the world's most indebted country is realizing that to grow, it must go global. Leading this push are the country's universities that are, with government support, embracing a more cosmopolitan approach by welcoming international students and teachers, promoting bilingual programs of study and encouraging young Japanese to study abroad. "We need a change in mindset" says Kuniaki Sato, deputy director of the higher-education bureau at the Ministry of Education. "The world is globalizing whether they like it or not."
The change has been slow in coming - and there's a long way to go. Despite billions of yen in scholarships for international students and exchange programs since the 1950s, from 2009 to 2011, only about 4% of students at Japan's 750 to 760 private and national universities came from other countries, according to the Japan Student Services Organization. Among Japan's university faculty, only 5% were foreign, and most were teaching English. The Education Ministry says that since 2000, there has been a 50% drop in Japanese university students studying abroad.
(Time, Sep 18)
