SUZHOU, China--They call it the "Venice in the East," but these days the city of Suzhou, located about 70 kilometers west of Shanghai, is attracting attention for a different reason: its newly established educational district.
In the "Suzhou Dushu Lake Higher Education Town," located in the outskirts of the city, stand a number of new school buildings, research facilities and libraries.
The Suzhou city government started development of the 10-square-kilometer educational district in 2002 with a budget of about 10 billion yuan (about 150 billion yen). The district has already accepted branch schools of eight prestigious public universities in China, including those in Shanghai and Xian.
Most of the new schools offer graduate and undergraduate programs with a scientific or technical focus, and have been established in cooperation with universities in Britain, Singapore or Hong Kong.
The total number of both undergraduate and graduate students in the education district has jumped from 200 in 2003 to 12,000 this summer. The figure is expected to increase further to 20,000 in the near future. A U.S journalism school and China's leading film school are also considering setting up branch schools in the academic district.
Since most students are from rich families from China's coastal areas, they can afford to pay the high annual tuition fees, which range from 10,000 to 20,000 yuan (about 150,000 to 300,000 yen).
In an industrial development zone next to the education district, 2,000 foreign companies from Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries are waiting for the time when they will be able to hire capable graduates from among the students here. According to the management office, universities in the district also hope that their research results in fields such as electronic engineering and new materials will be used to develop new products in related industries.
In Ningbo, a port town in Zhejiang province, a university has been set up jointly by Nottingham University in Britain and a local private company.
The school opened in September 2004, and uses the same system as that of Nottingham University. All lectures are given in English by teachers sent from the university in Nottingham. Students will receive the same undergraduate or graduate degrees as those the university gives in Britain.
Most of its faculties cater to the social sciences, including business administration. Despite annual tuition fees as high as 50,000 yuan (about 750,000 yen), about 1,000 students have enrolled at the new university.
Zhejiang Wanli Education Group, the Chinese company behind the Nottingham University branch, operates a variety of educational facilities, from high schools to driving schools.
Xu Yafen, 49, the company chairman, embarked on the new university because he felt, based on his own experience, the necessity of education to train business people. The son of a painter and decorator, Xu worked at a state-run factory after he graduated from senior high school.
The establishment of a number of foreign and local businesses has put Ningbo at the forefront of China's economic revival. Xu thought that an internationally-minded and highly trained work force would be a valuable asset to the economy. This belief dove-tailed nicely with the British university's plan to move into China, leading to the establishment of the university in Ningbo.
Most of the construction costs--about 550 million yuan (about 8.25 billion yen)--were covered by Xu's company, but the Zhejiang provincial government and the Ningbo city government also contributed to the project.
"Producing a Nobel laureate (from our university) is my dream," Xu said. In the meantime, the next step is to include the natural sciences.
However, despite the university construction rush, many graduates are having difficulties landing jobs.
In the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region in inland China, one such 26-year-old graduated from a public Xinjiang Medical University in the region's capital Urumqi in summer last year.
Despite a major in preventing epidemics, the man was unable to find a job and was forced to work for free at the emergency department of a public hospital until early June this year. He chose to work for free while looking for a hospital position because he did not want to let his parents down after they had paid his expensive university tuition fees.
His family covered his living expenses, but times were hard, and sometimes he had to skip breakfast to save money. In the end, he gave up hope of landing a job at the hospital and returned to his family home close to the boarder with Kazakhstan.
Other graduates are also worried they may have no choice but to work at companies that have nothing to do with the medical field. In fact, more than 20 of the man's 36 classmates are still looking for jobs while working temporarily at pharmaceutical stores or other firms part time, he said.
According to Xinjiang Medical University, about 4,600 students are taking undergraduate courses at the university. About 1,100 people graduated from the school this summer.
The university has not revealed what percentage of its graduates succeeded in landing jobs, but it acknowledges that a significant number failed to secure jobs at medical institutions where they could gain the experience necessary to qualify for the national examination for medical practitioners.
Up until 2000, almost all graduates could be sure of finding employment. In some underdeveloped inland areas, however, hospitals have been slow to increase the intake of university graduates. In spite of that, Xinjiang Medical University, for example, expanded its quota for new students this year, taking on 60 percent more than in 2000.
Outside of medicine, graduate job shortages are even more serious.
The total number of new university graduates this summer is estimated to be 4.13 million, an increase of 20 percent on the previous year. Sixty percent of those graduates will have difficulties in finding a job, according to a government report.
Meanwhile, the cost of university tuitions imposes a heavy financial burden, especially for families in rural areas. In some areas, parents need to pay the equivalent of 35 times their annual income to enable a child to get a university education, according to local media.
The university construction boom really took off in 1998 when former Chinese president Jiang Zemin announced a university expansion policy that would give China "state-of-the-art world-leading universities."
This led to the integration and expansion of existing universities and the establishment of new ones. Currently, there are more than 50 "university towns," including the Suzhou Dushu Lake Higher Education Town.
National statistics show that the number of universities increased from 1,022 in 1998 to 1,792, including 249 private schools, in 2005.
Since 1999, universities have expanded student enrollment at an annual rate of 15 to 20 percent. In 2005, the total number of students reached 15.62 million, more than five times the corresponding figure 10 years ago.
China has become one of the world's largest "university nations," with 23 million students, including those at graduate level. The ratio of senior high school students who go on to universities has increased to 21 percent.
While the country is making efforts to encourage the advancement of human resources and developing advanced technologies, there are those who are concerned that pushing university level education may have a negative impact as well as lead to the deterioration of the quality of education as a whole.
Behind all the construction is a large amount of debt. Between 150 billion yuan and 200 billion yuan (about 2.25 trillion yen and 3 trillion yen) in bank loans have been extended to public universities in China, according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government-affiliated research institute.
Nonetheless, some universities have failed to keep up with the rapid increase of students due to shortages of staff and research facilities. As a result, educational quality has declined.
Not only that, but should some universities fail to repay their loans, the report warns, it could result in financial crisis.
It's a warning that central government is taking seriously. At a State Council meeting in May, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called on ministers to tackle the education issue, with an emphasis on the problem of graduate unemployment.
Yang Dongping, 56, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, explains that in the late 1990s, after the Asian currency crisis, university construction became a major means for economic growth in some parts of the country.
"Our university systems need to improve in terms of (education) quality rather than size," said Yang, an expert on higher education.
"Also universities are not accessories of the government. They should be independent from it," he added.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200609130121.html
Friday, September 22, 2006
Emergency info service system for Japanese launched in N.Y.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry on Friday started operating a new information service system, which enables Japanese residents and travelers in North America to leave their messages so that their families and friends will be able to confirm their safety in an emergency.
"The number of Japanese who reside overseas is growing steadily," the consul general in New York, Motoatsu Sakurai, said at a news conference.
Currently, more than 1 million Japanese live outside of Japan. Of them, 40 percent, or 400,000 people, are in North America. In addition, more than 3 million Japanese visit North America every year.
Therefore, the Foreign Ministry first launched this system here, Sakurai said.
In a state of emergency, phone calls cannot easily be connected.
Sakurai said the newly introduced system uses more than 200 phone lines of three long-distance telephone companies' networks in order to secure better connection.
The system, which cost $290,000, turns on only in case of emergency.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060908/kyodo/d8k0vh782.html
"The number of Japanese who reside overseas is growing steadily," the consul general in New York, Motoatsu Sakurai, said at a news conference.
Currently, more than 1 million Japanese live outside of Japan. Of them, 40 percent, or 400,000 people, are in North America. In addition, more than 3 million Japanese visit North America every year.
Therefore, the Foreign Ministry first launched this system here, Sakurai said.
In a state of emergency, phone calls cannot easily be connected.
Sakurai said the newly introduced system uses more than 200 phone lines of three long-distance telephone companies' networks in order to secure better connection.
The system, which cost $290,000, turns on only in case of emergency.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060908/kyodo/d8k0vh782.html
Monday, September 04, 2006
University to launch student-run TV channel
Shinshu University in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, will use a cable television channel to broadcast public lecture schedules and information on its affiliated hospital every day starting Oct. 1.
The project is the first of its kind among the country's universities, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
The project aims to offer the latest information on the university, especially for the elderly, who rarely use the Internet.
The channel, allocated to the university by TV Matsumoto, a cable television station, is named SUTV, which stands for Shinshu University Television.
About 40 graduate and undergraduate students from the university's information-engineering and arts faculties will plan and produce all broadcast programs.
"I hope students can learn to contribute to the surrounding communities with this project," Atsushi Komiyama, president of the university, said.
The state-run university has earmarked 1.8 million yen from its annual budget for the project, in addition to 7 million yen spent on editing equipment.
It was presented with two TV cameras, worth 800,000 yen, by TV Matsumoto on Aug. 24.
SUTV will be on air between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. daily except Sundays, when it goes off air at 10 p.m.
The students are planning a special program, provisionally called "a student's diary," which will focus on everyday campus affairs through the eyes of a fictitious student.
They are also considering producing a documentary that will highlight the association between handicapped children and volunteers.
SUTV is targeting 700,000 households in Matsumoto and five adjacent municipalities.
However, viewers will need a digital TV tuner priced at 5,250 yen. In the area, about 4,500 households currently have the tuner.
(Sep. 4, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060904TDY10003.htm
The project is the first of its kind among the country's universities, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
The project aims to offer the latest information on the university, especially for the elderly, who rarely use the Internet.
The channel, allocated to the university by TV Matsumoto, a cable television station, is named SUTV, which stands for Shinshu University Television.
About 40 graduate and undergraduate students from the university's information-engineering and arts faculties will plan and produce all broadcast programs.
"I hope students can learn to contribute to the surrounding communities with this project," Atsushi Komiyama, president of the university, said.
The state-run university has earmarked 1.8 million yen from its annual budget for the project, in addition to 7 million yen spent on editing equipment.
It was presented with two TV cameras, worth 800,000 yen, by TV Matsumoto on Aug. 24.
SUTV will be on air between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. daily except Sundays, when it goes off air at 10 p.m.
The students are planning a special program, provisionally called "a student's diary," which will focus on everyday campus affairs through the eyes of a fictitious student.
They are also considering producing a documentary that will highlight the association between handicapped children and volunteers.
SUTV is targeting 700,000 households in Matsumoto and five adjacent municipalities.
However, viewers will need a digital TV tuner priced at 5,250 yen. In the area, about 4,500 households currently have the tuner.
(Sep. 4, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060904TDY10003.htm
National universities scrambling to earn a crust
National universities, which became financially independent administrative corporations in 2004, are making desperate efforts to turn a profit.
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, which owns many training ships, including four ships with a displacement of more than 100 tons, said fuel costs for the ships totaled 125 million yen in fiscal 2005, up 25 million yen from the previous year, despite efforts to save expenditures.
After it became an independent administrative corporation, the Koto Ward, Tokyo-based university began to allow filmmakers and TV stations to shoot pictures on its campus with the aim of covering some of those expenses.
The campus, which is home to some historical buildings, was used in the recent movie "Hachimitsu to Kuroba" (Honey and Clover) and the TV drama "Nobuta o Purodyusu" (Producing a Wild Pig). The university earned 3 million yen from 19 movie shoots carried out in fiscal 2005.
"We truly welcome these perquisites," a university official said.
Since they became independent administrative agencies in April 2004, national universities, whose profits were formerly supposed to go directly into the government's coffers, are now able to decide how to use the profit for the benefit of their students and for research. On the other hand, they are required to manage themselves more efficiently as government subsidies have been reduced year by year after their institutionalization.
Many other universities develop original products to earn profit and advertise themselves.
Mie University has started to rear expensive brand cattle named Matsusaka-ushi and popularly called Matsusaka-gyu, at its own farm. Officials of the university visited farmers raising Matsusaka-ushi to learn how to rear the cattle. They also visited Kobe University, which sells Kobe-dai (Kobe University) beef.
They provided each cow with a stall and fed them with originally processed straw. Some of the cows will be put on the market this winter.
"We can expect more profit when our beef's value is enhanced with the Matsusaka-ushi brand," an official said. "We'd like to compete with Kobe University."
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in January set up a pilot shop in the campus, where vegetables and fruit harvested in the university's farm and jam made from these products are sold to local residents once a week. The shop is so popular that people queue in front of it before it opens at noon. Last year, the shop's profit increased by 1.2 million yen in fiscal 2005 from the previous year.
Many universities have also implemented belt-tightening measures.
Kyoto University asks its students to close the lid of the toilets equipped with heating functions to prevent the heat from escaping.
In the university's bathrooms, there are stickers that read, "You can save electricity if you close the lid" and "You can save 800 yen per toilet a year."
Shiga University of Medical Science in July last year installed a water-saving device in almost all the 2,800 faucets in its buildings.
"A penny saved is a penny earned," an official said.
About 30 employees at Utsunomiya University repaired in March an old auditorium built during the Taisho era (1912-1926), spending two days on the job. They saved about 2 million yen by doing the repair work, a task that formerly was commissioned to private firms.
"We learned that we can save a substantial amount of money with the help of the employees," the director of the finance division of the university said.
(Sep. 3, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060903TDY01005.htm
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, which owns many training ships, including four ships with a displacement of more than 100 tons, said fuel costs for the ships totaled 125 million yen in fiscal 2005, up 25 million yen from the previous year, despite efforts to save expenditures.
After it became an independent administrative corporation, the Koto Ward, Tokyo-based university began to allow filmmakers and TV stations to shoot pictures on its campus with the aim of covering some of those expenses.
The campus, which is home to some historical buildings, was used in the recent movie "Hachimitsu to Kuroba" (Honey and Clover) and the TV drama "Nobuta o Purodyusu" (Producing a Wild Pig). The university earned 3 million yen from 19 movie shoots carried out in fiscal 2005.
"We truly welcome these perquisites," a university official said.
Since they became independent administrative agencies in April 2004, national universities, whose profits were formerly supposed to go directly into the government's coffers, are now able to decide how to use the profit for the benefit of their students and for research. On the other hand, they are required to manage themselves more efficiently as government subsidies have been reduced year by year after their institutionalization.
Many other universities develop original products to earn profit and advertise themselves.
Mie University has started to rear expensive brand cattle named Matsusaka-ushi and popularly called Matsusaka-gyu, at its own farm. Officials of the university visited farmers raising Matsusaka-ushi to learn how to rear the cattle. They also visited Kobe University, which sells Kobe-dai (Kobe University) beef.
They provided each cow with a stall and fed them with originally processed straw. Some of the cows will be put on the market this winter.
"We can expect more profit when our beef's value is enhanced with the Matsusaka-ushi brand," an official said. "We'd like to compete with Kobe University."
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in January set up a pilot shop in the campus, where vegetables and fruit harvested in the university's farm and jam made from these products are sold to local residents once a week. The shop is so popular that people queue in front of it before it opens at noon. Last year, the shop's profit increased by 1.2 million yen in fiscal 2005 from the previous year.
Many universities have also implemented belt-tightening measures.
Kyoto University asks its students to close the lid of the toilets equipped with heating functions to prevent the heat from escaping.
In the university's bathrooms, there are stickers that read, "You can save electricity if you close the lid" and "You can save 800 yen per toilet a year."
Shiga University of Medical Science in July last year installed a water-saving device in almost all the 2,800 faucets in its buildings.
"A penny saved is a penny earned," an official said.
About 30 employees at Utsunomiya University repaired in March an old auditorium built during the Taisho era (1912-1926), spending two days on the job. They saved about 2 million yen by doing the repair work, a task that formerly was commissioned to private firms.
"We learned that we can save a substantial amount of money with the help of the employees," the director of the finance division of the university said.
(Sep. 3, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060903TDY01005.htm
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Japan to welcome 2 000 students from Central Asia
Japan intends to welcome 2 000 students from Central Asia within three years ahead.
Information on all the Japan’s universities will be given in order to contribute to the development of further collaboration, deputy press secretary of Foreign Affairs Minister, director of international press department under Japan’s MFA secretariat Noriyuka Shikata told a briefing today in Astana.
Kazakhstan is an important partner for Japan, Mr Shikata said. Japan is interested in developing human resources, infrastructure, and improvement of healthcare service.
Kazakhstan expects direct investments including transfer of high technologies, widening collaboration in sphere of petrochemistry and electronics, Shikata added.
http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=144166
Information on all the Japan’s universities will be given in order to contribute to the development of further collaboration, deputy press secretary of Foreign Affairs Minister, director of international press department under Japan’s MFA secretariat Noriyuka Shikata told a briefing today in Astana.
Kazakhstan is an important partner for Japan, Mr Shikata said. Japan is interested in developing human resources, infrastructure, and improvement of healthcare service.
Kazakhstan expects direct investments including transfer of high technologies, widening collaboration in sphere of petrochemistry and electronics, Shikata added.
http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=144166
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Tanigaki eyes doubling number of foreign students by early 2010s
Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, running in the race to become Japan's next prime minister, on Wednesday proposed doubling the number of foreign students in Japan from the current 120,000 by the early 2010s, a move he said will help improve the nation's relations with China and South Korea.
"With this plan, young people responsible for the future of Asia can learn from each other and deepen their mutual understanding. Japanese universities can also turn themselves into a crucible of intellect, so as to train people to be active parts of an ever diversified world," he said.
However, Tanigaki did not go into details when he unveiled the proposal during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
Restoring relations with China and South Korea, which he says are currently "abnormal," is one of Tanigaki's key policy planks in his bid to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who will step down next month.
Tanigaki repeated he will not visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which China and South Korea see as a symbol of Japan's militarist past, if he becomes premier, and that he proposed establishing a hotline with Chinese and South Korean leaders to discuss bilateral and regional issues.
Koizumi's visits to the Shinto shrine, where 2.5 million war dead along with 14 Class-A war criminals are enshrined, have angered the two neighboring countries, which have refused to hold summit talks with Koizumi.
Tanigaki also said that if he becomes prime minister, he will upgrade Japan's ties with India, an emerging economic power. He also called for maintaining the Japan-U.S. security alliance, saying it is "natural" to craft Japan's defense policy based on it.
Other major contenders in the Sept. 20 presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso. The winner will become prime minister given the LDP's dominance in the powerful House of Representatives.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060823/kyodo/d8jm02v80.html
"With this plan, young people responsible for the future of Asia can learn from each other and deepen their mutual understanding. Japanese universities can also turn themselves into a crucible of intellect, so as to train people to be active parts of an ever diversified world," he said.
However, Tanigaki did not go into details when he unveiled the proposal during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
Restoring relations with China and South Korea, which he says are currently "abnormal," is one of Tanigaki's key policy planks in his bid to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who will step down next month.
Tanigaki repeated he will not visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which China and South Korea see as a symbol of Japan's militarist past, if he becomes premier, and that he proposed establishing a hotline with Chinese and South Korean leaders to discuss bilateral and regional issues.
Koizumi's visits to the Shinto shrine, where 2.5 million war dead along with 14 Class-A war criminals are enshrined, have angered the two neighboring countries, which have refused to hold summit talks with Koizumi.
Tanigaki also said that if he becomes prime minister, he will upgrade Japan's ties with India, an emerging economic power. He also called for maintaining the Japan-U.S. security alliance, saying it is "natural" to craft Japan's defense policy based on it.
Other major contenders in the Sept. 20 presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso. The winner will become prime minister given the LDP's dominance in the powerful House of Representatives.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060823/kyodo/d8jm02v80.html
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Over 200 Chinese students welcomed in Japan for exchange tour
Japanese Foreign Ministry welcomed Tuesday a team of 250 Chinese high school students in Tokyo, who will begin their 9-day exchange tour in Japan.
"Exchanges between Japanese and Chinese people, especially those between the juniors who shoulder the future, are very important," Yasuhisa Shiozaki, senior Japanese vice-minister for foreign affairs said at the welcoming ceremony.
Shiozaki said that he hoped the teenage students can know more about Japan and make Japanese friends during their tour in several Japanese prefectures including Yamagata, Akita, Aomori, Kanagawa and Tochigi.
"It is of great significance to promote all kinds of exchanges between the two countries when the bilateral relations are in difficulty," Kong Xuanyou, acting ambassador for Chinese Embassy in Japan said. He expressed his hope that the tour can contribute to enlarging youth exchanges and improving friendship with Japan.
The students, from various parts of China including Beijing, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hebei and Hubei, arrived in Japan on Monday, under a high school student exchange program between Japan and China.
According to the program, a total of 1,100 Chinese students will visit Japan, stay with Japanese families and attend exchanging activities with their Japanese counterparts. This group is the second batch of such exchange tours.
Source: Xinhua
http://english.people.com.cn/200608/22/eng20060822_295735.html
"Exchanges between Japanese and Chinese people, especially those between the juniors who shoulder the future, are very important," Yasuhisa Shiozaki, senior Japanese vice-minister for foreign affairs said at the welcoming ceremony.
Shiozaki said that he hoped the teenage students can know more about Japan and make Japanese friends during their tour in several Japanese prefectures including Yamagata, Akita, Aomori, Kanagawa and Tochigi.
"It is of great significance to promote all kinds of exchanges between the two countries when the bilateral relations are in difficulty," Kong Xuanyou, acting ambassador for Chinese Embassy in Japan said. He expressed his hope that the tour can contribute to enlarging youth exchanges and improving friendship with Japan.
The students, from various parts of China including Beijing, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hebei and Hubei, arrived in Japan on Monday, under a high school student exchange program between Japan and China.
According to the program, a total of 1,100 Chinese students will visit Japan, stay with Japanese families and attend exchanging activities with their Japanese counterparts. This group is the second batch of such exchange tours.
Source: Xinhua
http://english.people.com.cn/200608/22/eng20060822_295735.html
Incentives aim to lure top Asian students to stay
The government plans to offer scholarships for Asian students to study at universities and graduate schools in Japan to encourage them to stay and work for domestic companies after graduation.
According to sources, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology will launch the scholarship system in fiscal 2007 in cooperation with domestic firms interested in recruiting students from China, South Korea and other Asian countries.
The idea is to raise the number of skilled foreign nationals working in the corporate sector, the sources said.
Figures released by the industry ministry show that of about 30,000 overseas students who graduated from Japanese universities and graduate schools in fiscal 2004, only 5,700 of them found jobs here.
The program will involve special two-year courses that meet the specific needs of companies from the consumer electronics, information technology and ecology-related sectors. Classes to teach students the Japanese language will also be offered along with company internships.
The sources said the ministries are considering grants of between 200,000 and 300,000 yen a month to cover the students' tuition fees, rent and living costs.
The scholarships will be awarded annually to about 2,000 students, putting them on the fast track for corporate posts.
The ministries are also to ask the participating schools to come up with measures to help the scholarship students gain a good command of Japanese and better understand Japanese corporate culture.
Insufficient language ability and a lack of understanding of business practices here are commonly cited as reasons foreign graduates are reluctant to pursue work with Japanese firms.
Courses are to be selected following a ministry screening of university and graduate school programs nationwide.
The two ministries plan to request 6 billion yen from the fiscal 2007 budget to cover costs. That will include programs to help foreign students already enrolled on existing government scholarships to find jobs after graduating, the sources said.(IHT/Asahi: August 21,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608210099.html
According to sources, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology will launch the scholarship system in fiscal 2007 in cooperation with domestic firms interested in recruiting students from China, South Korea and other Asian countries.
The idea is to raise the number of skilled foreign nationals working in the corporate sector, the sources said.
Figures released by the industry ministry show that of about 30,000 overseas students who graduated from Japanese universities and graduate schools in fiscal 2004, only 5,700 of them found jobs here.
The program will involve special two-year courses that meet the specific needs of companies from the consumer electronics, information technology and ecology-related sectors. Classes to teach students the Japanese language will also be offered along with company internships.
The sources said the ministries are considering grants of between 200,000 and 300,000 yen a month to cover the students' tuition fees, rent and living costs.
The scholarships will be awarded annually to about 2,000 students, putting them on the fast track for corporate posts.
The ministries are also to ask the participating schools to come up with measures to help the scholarship students gain a good command of Japanese and better understand Japanese corporate culture.
Insufficient language ability and a lack of understanding of business practices here are commonly cited as reasons foreign graduates are reluctant to pursue work with Japanese firms.
Courses are to be selected following a ministry screening of university and graduate school programs nationwide.
The two ministries plan to request 6 billion yen from the fiscal 2007 budget to cover costs. That will include programs to help foreign students already enrolled on existing government scholarships to find jobs after graduating, the sources said.(IHT/Asahi: August 21,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608210099.html
Morning class a hit with Nagoya early birds
NAGOYA--Juggling work and family commitments and still having the time to meet friends or study is hard, granted.
Perhaps, say some analysts, that happens even more so in Nagoya, where the economy is on a roll and an increasing number of salaried workers are urged to work overtime.
But, in line with the cyclical highs of a healthy economy, Nagoya workers stretched for time are creating a new market for educators.
In fact, early-morning classes, in everything from English to bookkeeping to yoga, are catching on here like nowhere else in the country.
Nagoya Ohara Gakuen Colleges, which offer courses in accounting and financial planning, among others in Aichi and Shizuoka prefectures, started morning classes at two branches in Nagoya two years ago.
According to school officials, about 250 students took early-bird classes last year.
About 70 percent of them were women around 30 years old.
Kumiko Jinza, 28, attends a 7:30 a.m. bookkeeping class at the Sakae branch in central Nagoya.
"I would be too tired from work to concentrate on lectures at night. Learning in the morning for a short period of time is more efficient," says Jinza.
Although the Ohara group has schools all over the country, the early study sessions, which are generally cheaper than the regular courses, are only offered in the Nagoya region.
"We are catering to people who could not attend classes at night because of their overtime work," says Masao Koga, who heads the adult class division at Ohara. "There are also people who are taking the courses for the low fees."
Meanwhile, the Asahi Culture Center is also finding success with early risers.
It offers English conversation classes at a Starbucks coffee shop near Sakae Station twice a week.
Two thousand yen covers the cost of the hour-long, 7:30 a.m. class as well as a coffee and a croissant.
Forty-year-old Masanari Iwamoto, who takes the English class, says he previously took night classes but work always kept him from going, and he ended up wasting his money.
"The course is a good deal as it includes breakfast. I have also found friends outside work," he said.
The number of people here who head off to early gym sessions or yoga classes is also on the rise.
Pacific Sports Club, for example, offers special prices for morning workouts.
Members pay just 4,000 yen a month and can use the facilities from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
According to a club spokesperson, many people who work in central Nagoya area use the gym two or three times a week.
"Morning members say that they have raised their metabolic rates and are making better progress at work," the spokesperson added.(IHT/Asahi: August 21,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608210090.html
Perhaps, say some analysts, that happens even more so in Nagoya, where the economy is on a roll and an increasing number of salaried workers are urged to work overtime.
But, in line with the cyclical highs of a healthy economy, Nagoya workers stretched for time are creating a new market for educators.
In fact, early-morning classes, in everything from English to bookkeeping to yoga, are catching on here like nowhere else in the country.
Nagoya Ohara Gakuen Colleges, which offer courses in accounting and financial planning, among others in Aichi and Shizuoka prefectures, started morning classes at two branches in Nagoya two years ago.
According to school officials, about 250 students took early-bird classes last year.
About 70 percent of them were women around 30 years old.
Kumiko Jinza, 28, attends a 7:30 a.m. bookkeeping class at the Sakae branch in central Nagoya.
"I would be too tired from work to concentrate on lectures at night. Learning in the morning for a short period of time is more efficient," says Jinza.
Although the Ohara group has schools all over the country, the early study sessions, which are generally cheaper than the regular courses, are only offered in the Nagoya region.
"We are catering to people who could not attend classes at night because of their overtime work," says Masao Koga, who heads the adult class division at Ohara. "There are also people who are taking the courses for the low fees."
Meanwhile, the Asahi Culture Center is also finding success with early risers.
It offers English conversation classes at a Starbucks coffee shop near Sakae Station twice a week.
Two thousand yen covers the cost of the hour-long, 7:30 a.m. class as well as a coffee and a croissant.
Forty-year-old Masanari Iwamoto, who takes the English class, says he previously took night classes but work always kept him from going, and he ended up wasting his money.
"The course is a good deal as it includes breakfast. I have also found friends outside work," he said.
The number of people here who head off to early gym sessions or yoga classes is also on the rise.
Pacific Sports Club, for example, offers special prices for morning workouts.
Members pay just 4,000 yen a month and can use the facilities from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
According to a club spokesperson, many people who work in central Nagoya area use the gym two or three times a week.
"Morning members say that they have raised their metabolic rates and are making better progress at work," the spokesperson added.(IHT/Asahi: August 21,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608210090.html
Wine used to lure students
Faced with slumping student numbers, a university in Kofu has hit upon a possible way to keep enrollments up--sell wine on campus.
Yamanashi University, the only university in Japan to have a wine research institute, hopes its wines will give it a competitive advantage in attracting students.
Wines, made by four local wineries using yeast developed by the university's Institute of Enology and Viticulture, will be sold at a convenience store that will open on campus early next year.
Six major convenience store chain operators have expressed interest in opening an outlet on campus. Next month, the university will choose which operator will run the store.
In April 2004, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry relaxed university management regulations to enable universities to adopt new measures to improve amenities for students and staff.
In the same month, state-run universities, including Yamanashi University, became independent administrative corporations.
"To compete with private universities in the area and the many universities in Tokyo, we must rack our brains to [find ways to] increase our entrance examination applicants," said Hideaki Nukui, president of the university.
The convenience store will open from early morning until late at night. "The existing co-op and the new convenience store will compete with each other to upgrade services," Nukui said.
The news has been hailed by students, particularly those in graduate courses who often have to study late.
Faculty members are also pleased because they will no longer need to leave the campus during lunch hour to avoid packed canteens run by the co-op.
In December 2004, Kyoto University became the first state-run university to have a convenience store open an outlet on its campus. Tokyo, Saitama, Nagoya and other universities have since followed suit.
Yamanashi University had previously planned to sell wine on campus, but the plan fell foul of government regulations that placed restrictions on new retailers of alcoholic beverages to protect existing retailers. The restrictions will be lifted on Aug. 31.
The legal drinking age is 20 in Japan.
(Aug. 21, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20060821TDY17003.htm
Yamanashi University, the only university in Japan to have a wine research institute, hopes its wines will give it a competitive advantage in attracting students.
Wines, made by four local wineries using yeast developed by the university's Institute of Enology and Viticulture, will be sold at a convenience store that will open on campus early next year.
Six major convenience store chain operators have expressed interest in opening an outlet on campus. Next month, the university will choose which operator will run the store.
In April 2004, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry relaxed university management regulations to enable universities to adopt new measures to improve amenities for students and staff.
In the same month, state-run universities, including Yamanashi University, became independent administrative corporations.
"To compete with private universities in the area and the many universities in Tokyo, we must rack our brains to [find ways to] increase our entrance examination applicants," said Hideaki Nukui, president of the university.
The convenience store will open from early morning until late at night. "The existing co-op and the new convenience store will compete with each other to upgrade services," Nukui said.
The news has been hailed by students, particularly those in graduate courses who often have to study late.
Faculty members are also pleased because they will no longer need to leave the campus during lunch hour to avoid packed canteens run by the co-op.
In December 2004, Kyoto University became the first state-run university to have a convenience store open an outlet on its campus. Tokyo, Saitama, Nagoya and other universities have since followed suit.
Yamanashi University had previously planned to sell wine on campus, but the plan fell foul of government regulations that placed restrictions on new retailers of alcoholic beverages to protect existing retailers. The restrictions will be lifted on Aug. 31.
The legal drinking age is 20 in Japan.
(Aug. 21, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20060821TDY17003.htm
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Ministry to help universities attract foreign research funds
The Education, Science and Technology Ministry plans to begin next academic year drawing up measures to improve cooperation between Japanese universities and foreign firms, according to ministry sources.
Currently, the number of research projects for which foreign companies commission Japanese universities is very small, while that of studies farmed out to foreign universities by Japanese companies is large. The new measures are aimed at rectifying the situation, the sources said.
The ministry will select 10 universities and budget tens of millions of yen annually per university to improve systems and staffing for cooperation with foreign companies, the sources said.
According to the sources, the ministry's survey of 966 universities nationwide showed that 16,936 research projects had been funded by the private sector in the 2005 academic year, but only 41 of those--a mere 0.24 percent--were paid for by foreign firms.
Japanese firms, meanwhile, farm out research far more often to foreign universities than they do Japanese universities, spending 198.5 billion yen in fiscal 2003, the sources said.
The ministry has concluded that the universities' failure to establish a policy for cooperation with foreign firms has led to the current situation, and intends to help domestic universities improve such activities.
The ministry plans to assist universities cooperating with the private sector to establish an office within their intellectual property departments in charge of negotiating with foreign companies.
It is also considering posting experts in other countries' patent laws and those knowledgeable about who owns the rights to the research.
The ministry will use the system to promote the use of business management firms acting as negotiators with foreign companies.
(Aug. 6, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060806TDY02002.htm
Currently, the number of research projects for which foreign companies commission Japanese universities is very small, while that of studies farmed out to foreign universities by Japanese companies is large. The new measures are aimed at rectifying the situation, the sources said.
The ministry will select 10 universities and budget tens of millions of yen annually per university to improve systems and staffing for cooperation with foreign companies, the sources said.
According to the sources, the ministry's survey of 966 universities nationwide showed that 16,936 research projects had been funded by the private sector in the 2005 academic year, but only 41 of those--a mere 0.24 percent--were paid for by foreign firms.
Japanese firms, meanwhile, farm out research far more often to foreign universities than they do Japanese universities, spending 198.5 billion yen in fiscal 2003, the sources said.
The ministry has concluded that the universities' failure to establish a policy for cooperation with foreign firms has led to the current situation, and intends to help domestic universities improve such activities.
The ministry plans to assist universities cooperating with the private sector to establish an office within their intellectual property departments in charge of negotiating with foreign companies.
It is also considering posting experts in other countries' patent laws and those knowledgeable about who owns the rights to the research.
The ministry will use the system to promote the use of business management firms acting as negotiators with foreign companies.
(Aug. 6, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060806TDY02002.htm
No. of people firms plan to hire for mid-career programs rises 30%
The number of people Japanese companies were planning to hire at the start of fiscal 2006 under their mid-career recruitment programs shot up 30.1 percent over a year earlier to 695,900, Recruit Co. said Wednesday.
The job placement ad magazine publisher said the findings, based on a survey it conducted in February and March, indicate that Japanese companies are facing worker shortages as a result of an economic rebound.
A Recruit analyst said the mid-career programs at big companies are "also designed to remedy" the shortages of young workers in their workforces.
The shortages have arisen from the companies' decisions in recent years to limit the number of fresh graduates from universities and colleges they employ prior to the start of their new business years.
The number of people which the companies whose workers on regular payrolls are 299 or less were planning to hire under such recruitment plans rose 26.5 percent to 546,600, Recruit said.
The number of mid-career recruits to be hired at firms with a regular payroll between 300 and 999 rose 37.5 percent to 59,800, while the number at firms with a regular payroll of over 1,000 jumped 51.6 percent to 89,600.
Recruit said the survey represented the firm's first-ever probe into Japanese companies' mid-career recruitment programs.
Recruit polled some 7,469 companies with a workforce of five persons or more. Of the polled, 4,068 responded.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060802/kyodo/d8j8b3700.html
The job placement ad magazine publisher said the findings, based on a survey it conducted in February and March, indicate that Japanese companies are facing worker shortages as a result of an economic rebound.
A Recruit analyst said the mid-career programs at big companies are "also designed to remedy" the shortages of young workers in their workforces.
The shortages have arisen from the companies' decisions in recent years to limit the number of fresh graduates from universities and colleges they employ prior to the start of their new business years.
The number of people which the companies whose workers on regular payrolls are 299 or less were planning to hire under such recruitment plans rose 26.5 percent to 546,600, Recruit said.
The number of mid-career recruits to be hired at firms with a regular payroll between 300 and 999 rose 37.5 percent to 59,800, while the number at firms with a regular payroll of over 1,000 jumped 51.6 percent to 89,600.
Recruit said the survey represented the firm's first-ever probe into Japanese companies' mid-career recruitment programs.
Recruit polled some 7,469 companies with a workforce of five persons or more. Of the polled, 4,068 responded.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060802/kyodo/d8j8b3700.html
Rough road ahead for private universities
The expansionary policy of private universities and the establishment of new universities in an attempt to lure students has backfired.
According to the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, the percentage of private universities whose enrollment following the spring entrance examinations failed to meet their intake quotas hit a record high of 40.4 percent, exceeding the 40 percent mark for the first time.
The environment surrounding private universities has changed significantly in recent years.
The Education, Science and Technology Ministry abolished its policy on the establishment of new universities and new departments. Joint-stock companies may now open universities in special structural reform zones.
The deregulation has resulted in many new types of universities and departments being opened around the country.
According to the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation, eight new universities and 41 departments were created this spring, excluding those opened by joint-stock companies and those offering only correspondence courses.
As a result, the total intake quota increased by 9,258 from the previous spring to about 440,000, which was a key factor contributing to the unmet enrollment in the survey.
The number of university applicants, however, has declined.
According to the ministry, the number of 18-year-olds dropped from about 1.73 million in academic year 1996 to about 1.33 million this year, with that population expected to fall to about 1.17 million in 2018.
Tadao Kiyonari, a university affairs consultant at Hosei University, said the phenomenon was irrational from the viewpoint of supply and demand.
Why has supply failed to reflect demand? As competition for students intensifies among universities, each university has done its best to recruit students by opening departments in popular fields, such as nursing and welfare, and primary education.
On the other hand, the number of applicants for the less popular departments, such as engineering and pharmacy, which was recently changed from a four-year course to a six-year course, declined.
A Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation official said it is not easy for universities to integrate or scrap existing departments when they consider the interests of the professors and students in those departments.
In other words, the expansionary policies that some universities have followed and the establishment of new universities--all to recruit more students--has resulted in a vicious cycle that has aggravated the environment for all private universities.
However, with the number of applicants for the popular nursing and welfare course leveling off, the official also pointed out such courses have their limits in attracting students.
A senior official from the education ministry said the ministry had no intention of tightening controls on universities again because the deregulation is a government policy.
As such, the number of universities that will go bankrupt after failing to recruit students is expected to rise.
The ministry has already begun mapping out measures to deal with possible university bankruptcies. In May last year, the education ministry released steps to deal with financially troubled academic institutions, including a program to protect students of bankrupt universities.
In the event that a university goes under, neighboring universities will be asked to accept students of the bankrupt university, reduce enrollment fees and accept the students' credits.
Meanwhile, a group of experts from the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation also released an interim report in mid-July on steps to deal with bankrupt universities. They proposed the introduction of a "yellow card" system under which the corporation will offer business advice to universities confirmed to have financial troubles.
In the event that such universities cannot improve their finances, the corporation will then take "red card" measures against them, such as terminating the provision of subsidies and loans and suspending student recruitment.
Next year, the number of applicants will match the enrollment quota.
To prevent private universities from going belly up, each university has to do its best to improve its finances. The latest survey showed that small universities whose enrollment quotas were fewer than 100 students increased their enrollment rates from the previous year.
As such, some universities might have to streamline their operations by reducing their number of departments and their enrollment quota. Some of the less-popular universities have offered job-hunting assistance and unique courses for students as ways to differentiate themselves from other universities.
However, instead of seeking immediate returns by opening popular new departments, universities should carry out concrete reforms, such as improving their quality, to impress students and firms.
(Aug. 1, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060801TDY04003.htm
According to the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, the percentage of private universities whose enrollment following the spring entrance examinations failed to meet their intake quotas hit a record high of 40.4 percent, exceeding the 40 percent mark for the first time.
The environment surrounding private universities has changed significantly in recent years.
The Education, Science and Technology Ministry abolished its policy on the establishment of new universities and new departments. Joint-stock companies may now open universities in special structural reform zones.
The deregulation has resulted in many new types of universities and departments being opened around the country.
According to the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation, eight new universities and 41 departments were created this spring, excluding those opened by joint-stock companies and those offering only correspondence courses.
As a result, the total intake quota increased by 9,258 from the previous spring to about 440,000, which was a key factor contributing to the unmet enrollment in the survey.
The number of university applicants, however, has declined.
According to the ministry, the number of 18-year-olds dropped from about 1.73 million in academic year 1996 to about 1.33 million this year, with that population expected to fall to about 1.17 million in 2018.
Tadao Kiyonari, a university affairs consultant at Hosei University, said the phenomenon was irrational from the viewpoint of supply and demand.
Why has supply failed to reflect demand? As competition for students intensifies among universities, each university has done its best to recruit students by opening departments in popular fields, such as nursing and welfare, and primary education.
On the other hand, the number of applicants for the less popular departments, such as engineering and pharmacy, which was recently changed from a four-year course to a six-year course, declined.
A Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation official said it is not easy for universities to integrate or scrap existing departments when they consider the interests of the professors and students in those departments.
In other words, the expansionary policies that some universities have followed and the establishment of new universities--all to recruit more students--has resulted in a vicious cycle that has aggravated the environment for all private universities.
However, with the number of applicants for the popular nursing and welfare course leveling off, the official also pointed out such courses have their limits in attracting students.
A senior official from the education ministry said the ministry had no intention of tightening controls on universities again because the deregulation is a government policy.
As such, the number of universities that will go bankrupt after failing to recruit students is expected to rise.
The ministry has already begun mapping out measures to deal with possible university bankruptcies. In May last year, the education ministry released steps to deal with financially troubled academic institutions, including a program to protect students of bankrupt universities.
In the event that a university goes under, neighboring universities will be asked to accept students of the bankrupt university, reduce enrollment fees and accept the students' credits.
Meanwhile, a group of experts from the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation also released an interim report in mid-July on steps to deal with bankrupt universities. They proposed the introduction of a "yellow card" system under which the corporation will offer business advice to universities confirmed to have financial troubles.
In the event that such universities cannot improve their finances, the corporation will then take "red card" measures against them, such as terminating the provision of subsidies and loans and suspending student recruitment.
Next year, the number of applicants will match the enrollment quota.
To prevent private universities from going belly up, each university has to do its best to improve its finances. The latest survey showed that small universities whose enrollment quotas were fewer than 100 students increased their enrollment rates from the previous year.
As such, some universities might have to streamline their operations by reducing their number of departments and their enrollment quota. Some of the less-popular universities have offered job-hunting assistance and unique courses for students as ways to differentiate themselves from other universities.
However, instead of seeking immediate returns by opening popular new departments, universities should carry out concrete reforms, such as improving their quality, to impress students and firms.
(Aug. 1, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060801TDY04003.htm
Friday, July 21, 2006
Updated 2006 Japan Australia StudyLink Cup Game times
Current 2006 Japan-Australia StudyLink Cup Match times (Please watch this space):
8/9 3pm Game 1 vs. RMIT Redbacks at Bob Jane Stadium
8/10 7pm Game 2 vs. University of Melbourne at the Darebin International Sports Centre
8/11 7pm Game 3 vs. Victoria Institute of Sport at the Darebin International Sports Centre.
Please send any questions to joshua.flannery@studylink.com
StudyLink scores a goal for cultural exchange
As World Cup fever takes hold, Japanese and Australian university students are preparing to go head to head on the soccer pitch to mark the Year of Exchange between the two countries. The StudyLink Cup will see a team of 23 Japanese university students, selected and sponsored by the Kansai Student Soccer Federation, fly to Melbourne for a soccer tour of several Australian universities. The event is to also celebrate the Osaka-Melbourne sister city relationship - the Kansai team players being based in and around Osaka city.
International student recruitment firm StudyLink organised the inaugural tournament to promote sport, language and cultural exchange. StudyLink CEO Jason Howard said: “We’re committed to bringing students together and promoting understanding through education. What better way to initiate this than through sport?”
The RMIT University will host the Japanese team during its August 8 to 12 stay. While in Melbourne the team will play the RMIT Redbacks, the University of Melbourne team, and the budding national team-members of the Victorian Institute of Sport.
RMIT will provide accommodation for the visitors and, with 200 of the university’s students learning Japanese, there will be no shortage of people to host, guide and socialise with the team. The school has also invited the team into their language class to enjoy a discussion about soccer and the World Cup.
Melbourne City International has organised a lunch at the Melbourne Town Hall on August 10 where the Japanese players and others involved in the StudyLink Cup will be met by the city’s councillors.
The StudyLink Cup has been endorsed by the 2006 Japan-Australia Year of Exchange Committee and its participants will by vying for a prize sponsored by the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
http://www.jufa-kansai.jp/about/06.07.14message.html (Japanese)
8/9 3pm Game 1 vs. RMIT Redbacks at Bob Jane Stadium
8/10 7pm Game 2 vs. University of Melbourne at the Darebin International Sports Centre
8/11 7pm Game 3 vs. Victoria Institute of Sport at the Darebin International Sports Centre.
Please send any questions to joshua.flannery@studylink.com
StudyLink scores a goal for cultural exchange
As World Cup fever takes hold, Japanese and Australian university students are preparing to go head to head on the soccer pitch to mark the Year of Exchange between the two countries. The StudyLink Cup will see a team of 23 Japanese university students, selected and sponsored by the Kansai Student Soccer Federation, fly to Melbourne for a soccer tour of several Australian universities. The event is to also celebrate the Osaka-Melbourne sister city relationship - the Kansai team players being based in and around Osaka city.
International student recruitment firm StudyLink organised the inaugural tournament to promote sport, language and cultural exchange. StudyLink CEO Jason Howard said: “We’re committed to bringing students together and promoting understanding through education. What better way to initiate this than through sport?”
The RMIT University will host the Japanese team during its August 8 to 12 stay. While in Melbourne the team will play the RMIT Redbacks, the University of Melbourne team, and the budding national team-members of the Victorian Institute of Sport.
RMIT will provide accommodation for the visitors and, with 200 of the university’s students learning Japanese, there will be no shortage of people to host, guide and socialise with the team. The school has also invited the team into their language class to enjoy a discussion about soccer and the World Cup.
Melbourne City International has organised a lunch at the Melbourne Town Hall on August 10 where the Japanese players and others involved in the StudyLink Cup will be met by the city’s councillors.
The StudyLink Cup has been endorsed by the 2006 Japan-Australia Year of Exchange Committee and its participants will by vying for a prize sponsored by the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
http://www.jufa-kansai.jp/about/06.07.14message.html (Japanese)
BUSINESS FRONT LINE / Broad worldview seen vital for MBA students
"If you're going to get an MBA, you had better have a global understanding. Otherwise, it's worthless...You've got to have significant knowledge about how the world works," says Clive Grafton, chair of the board of advisers at Anaheim University.
To achieve this end, many Japanese students have chosen to obtain their degrees at prestigious schools in countries such as the United States, the birthplace of the qualification. But for officials at Anaheim University, this line of thinking is a bit odd.
"The reason you're getting your MBA is to improve your career, so why would you take yourself out of the market for two or three years to improve your career? You have to start over, and sometimes the job you quit [to study abroad] is no longer available. It's a big risk," says Anaheim University Vice President Anthony Al-Jamie.
The California-based university offers an online MBA program, making it possible for students to receive the highly sought-after degree in just a year without having to go abroad or even set foot on campus.
"Online education is the fastest growing form of education in the world. It's becoming far more acceptable to traditional education, and it is just growing in leaps and bounds," says Grafton, who received his doctorate in education and master of science degree in management.
The Internet course, he continues, is a good way to achieve a global perspective as it allows students to study business in their own environment--i.e. their own country--while being encouraged to interact with other MBA candidates from around the world in a free exchange of ideas and cultural perspectives through e-mail.
In 1996, the university opened its Japanese campus, Anaheim University Akio Morita Learning Center. At about the same time the school opened, Grafton started to notice a significant change in the Japanese lifestyle. The Internet was becoming a popular communication tool, and every time he has visited Japan over the past decade he became more aware of just how rapidly communication technology was evolving.
Al-Jamie says there are many people who say, "Japanese don't want to study online, they want to study in a classroom."
"But that's changing quickly," he said.
This year, 100 people graduated from the Akio Morita School. Half of them were Japanese, with the remaining graduates mostly hailing from India and other English-speaking countries. Many of the students are already in leadership positions and are preparing to move up to more senior positions, he said.
In addition to benefiting from on-the-job experience, the two executives said, studying for an MBA online makes economic sense and provides an opportunity to acquire a global perspective.
Japanese companies used to send their employees abroad for their MBAs, which they would bring back to their firms, along with their newly acquired managerial skills, according to Al-Jamie.
This meant companies were responsible for paying tuition, living expenses, accommodation and salaries. But with years of recession bringing down the economy, it has become difficult for companies to continue the practice.
Even so, Al-Jamie says, it was not uncommon for new MBA holders to become more ambitious during their time overseas, choosing upon their return to move on to better companies or be headhunted by other firms.
"It actually costs a company out of pocket 25 million yen or 30 million yen to pay for the actual expenses. But when you [a company] get only half back, you have to double your cost. Every time you send 10 [employees]...and if only five come back, that means one person costs you 60 million yen," he said.
===
Learn the global way
The MBA qualification originated in the United States, but, according to Grafton, the knowledge gained through such programs should be applicable in any country in which an MBA candidate would choose to work.
If, for example, students opt to study in the United States, they will likely be assimilated into the American business style because they must set aside their own culture and way of thinking and attempt to learn how Americans do things--a way not always appreciated in other countries.
With Anaheim University's online class, international students can put business strategies learned in class into practice in their own environment and see how effective they are in the country where they do business, Grafton said.
He said he was surprised to see so few American cars in Tokyo.
"Some of the American automobile industries are in trouble because they lost the significant share, and they deserve it, because they did not approach the global market in an understanding way," said Grafton, saying U.S. carmakers were too confident their strategies would be effective outside the United States.
"Some people become arrogant...That is a fault of being too self-assured, of not really measuring what you're trying to accomplish," Grafton said. "A lot of MBAs...took their degree, but they did not have a global outlook."
Grafton says Japan has not being moving forward as quickly as it should have been compared to other Asian countries, such as South Korea or China. But, he says, it still controls a significant part of the market in some countries, although he added a warning that Japan should avoid the same pitfalls into which the United States blundered.
(Jul. 17, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/20060717TDY08001.htm
To achieve this end, many Japanese students have chosen to obtain their degrees at prestigious schools in countries such as the United States, the birthplace of the qualification. But for officials at Anaheim University, this line of thinking is a bit odd.
"The reason you're getting your MBA is to improve your career, so why would you take yourself out of the market for two or three years to improve your career? You have to start over, and sometimes the job you quit [to study abroad] is no longer available. It's a big risk," says Anaheim University Vice President Anthony Al-Jamie.
The California-based university offers an online MBA program, making it possible for students to receive the highly sought-after degree in just a year without having to go abroad or even set foot on campus.
"Online education is the fastest growing form of education in the world. It's becoming far more acceptable to traditional education, and it is just growing in leaps and bounds," says Grafton, who received his doctorate in education and master of science degree in management.
The Internet course, he continues, is a good way to achieve a global perspective as it allows students to study business in their own environment--i.e. their own country--while being encouraged to interact with other MBA candidates from around the world in a free exchange of ideas and cultural perspectives through e-mail.
In 1996, the university opened its Japanese campus, Anaheim University Akio Morita Learning Center. At about the same time the school opened, Grafton started to notice a significant change in the Japanese lifestyle. The Internet was becoming a popular communication tool, and every time he has visited Japan over the past decade he became more aware of just how rapidly communication technology was evolving.
Al-Jamie says there are many people who say, "Japanese don't want to study online, they want to study in a classroom."
"But that's changing quickly," he said.
This year, 100 people graduated from the Akio Morita School. Half of them were Japanese, with the remaining graduates mostly hailing from India and other English-speaking countries. Many of the students are already in leadership positions and are preparing to move up to more senior positions, he said.
In addition to benefiting from on-the-job experience, the two executives said, studying for an MBA online makes economic sense and provides an opportunity to acquire a global perspective.
Japanese companies used to send their employees abroad for their MBAs, which they would bring back to their firms, along with their newly acquired managerial skills, according to Al-Jamie.
This meant companies were responsible for paying tuition, living expenses, accommodation and salaries. But with years of recession bringing down the economy, it has become difficult for companies to continue the practice.
Even so, Al-Jamie says, it was not uncommon for new MBA holders to become more ambitious during their time overseas, choosing upon their return to move on to better companies or be headhunted by other firms.
"It actually costs a company out of pocket 25 million yen or 30 million yen to pay for the actual expenses. But when you [a company] get only half back, you have to double your cost. Every time you send 10 [employees]...and if only five come back, that means one person costs you 60 million yen," he said.
===
Learn the global way
The MBA qualification originated in the United States, but, according to Grafton, the knowledge gained through such programs should be applicable in any country in which an MBA candidate would choose to work.
If, for example, students opt to study in the United States, they will likely be assimilated into the American business style because they must set aside their own culture and way of thinking and attempt to learn how Americans do things--a way not always appreciated in other countries.
With Anaheim University's online class, international students can put business strategies learned in class into practice in their own environment and see how effective they are in the country where they do business, Grafton said.
He said he was surprised to see so few American cars in Tokyo.
"Some of the American automobile industries are in trouble because they lost the significant share, and they deserve it, because they did not approach the global market in an understanding way," said Grafton, saying U.S. carmakers were too confident their strategies would be effective outside the United States.
"Some people become arrogant...That is a fault of being too self-assured, of not really measuring what you're trying to accomplish," Grafton said. "A lot of MBAs...took their degree, but they did not have a global outlook."
Grafton says Japan has not being moving forward as quickly as it should have been compared to other Asian countries, such as South Korea or China. But, he says, it still controls a significant part of the market in some countries, although he added a warning that Japan should avoid the same pitfalls into which the United States blundered.
(Jul. 17, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/20060717TDY08001.htm
Britain to get new Japanese studies center in September
Efforts by Japan experts in Britain to boost Japanese studies in the country will bear fruit this September with the opening of the National Institute of Japanese Studies in the new White Rose East Asia Center.
"The subject is strategically important for our country," Glenn Hook, a professor at the University of Sheffield's School of East Asian Studies, said in a recent interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo. "We've often lost good students who decided to go overseas for postgraduate programs."
NIJS is part of WREAC together with the National Institute of Chinese Studies. The center will get £4 million from the government over the next five years. After it opens in September, WREAC will be managed jointly by the University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds.
Hook, who is the author of several books, including "Militarization and Demilitarization in Contemporary Japan," played a key role in getting the government funding to establish the institute.
The professor first became interested in Japan when studying the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their effects on international politics. He later studied at Osaka University of Foreign Studies and Chuo University.
He said Japanese studies in the U.K. have changed in recent years. Japanese studies reached their peak in popularity in Britain in the mid-1980s, with the robust economy in Japan leading Japanese companies to give money to academic institutions.
Japanese pop culture, including animation and video games, has lead to an interest in more traditional culture as well.
The University of Sheffield has 50 British students registered for its undergraduate Japanese studies course every year. However, at the postgraduate level, the majority of students are from overseas.
"What has tended to happen is that students finish their B.A. and go straight to the business world, because there wasn't enough funding to pursue an M.A. or Ph.D.," Hook said.
As money from Japanese companies has dried up, many universities began shutting down their East Asian studies departments, saying they were not cost efficient. Most recently, Durham University decided to close its department in 2007.
The £4 million for WREAC is a part of a £25 million British government-initiative to fund regional studies. The money is from the Higher Education Funding Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the Scottish Funding Council.
The £25 million program is the the first time the British government has awarded academic funding through open competition.
Thirteen proposals from university groups were shortlisted for a final interview, and five groups were awarded the government funding in the end.
The initiative will also fund the British Interuniversity China Center, the University of Edinburgh's center of research for Arabic-speaking countries, University College London's center for East European and former Soviet Union language-based area studies, and a research center focused on Eastern Europe at the University of Glasgow.
Speaking about how the government gave combined funding to NICS and the British Interuniversity China Center, Hook said that while China has grown in importance, Japanese studies have not lost their significance.
"Japan is still the second-largest economy in the world and an extremely important partner to the U.K.," Hook said, noting the two nations share similar views. "People should recognize the continuing importance of Japan in the world.
"We were very keen to have a strong governance structure involving international advisory boards, and also include representatives of the community," Hook said of the funding proposal for NIJS. He also said the University of Sheffield, founded in the early 1960s, had the advantage of having "trained Ph.D. students for many years."
About four new students will be welcomed annually to WREAC. Applicants, restricted to European Union citizens, must have expertise in their areas of study as well applicable language abilities.
Participants in the program will be able to take advantage of the center's links with more than 30 universities in China and Japan, including the University of Tokyo.
"We've always lacked the ability to enable the students to continue their studies, but the new funding will be a great opportunity," Hook said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060715f1.html
"The subject is strategically important for our country," Glenn Hook, a professor at the University of Sheffield's School of East Asian Studies, said in a recent interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo. "We've often lost good students who decided to go overseas for postgraduate programs."
NIJS is part of WREAC together with the National Institute of Chinese Studies. The center will get £4 million from the government over the next five years. After it opens in September, WREAC will be managed jointly by the University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds.
Hook, who is the author of several books, including "Militarization and Demilitarization in Contemporary Japan," played a key role in getting the government funding to establish the institute.
The professor first became interested in Japan when studying the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their effects on international politics. He later studied at Osaka University of Foreign Studies and Chuo University.
He said Japanese studies in the U.K. have changed in recent years. Japanese studies reached their peak in popularity in Britain in the mid-1980s, with the robust economy in Japan leading Japanese companies to give money to academic institutions.
Japanese pop culture, including animation and video games, has lead to an interest in more traditional culture as well.
The University of Sheffield has 50 British students registered for its undergraduate Japanese studies course every year. However, at the postgraduate level, the majority of students are from overseas.
"What has tended to happen is that students finish their B.A. and go straight to the business world, because there wasn't enough funding to pursue an M.A. or Ph.D.," Hook said.
As money from Japanese companies has dried up, many universities began shutting down their East Asian studies departments, saying they were not cost efficient. Most recently, Durham University decided to close its department in 2007.
The £4 million for WREAC is a part of a £25 million British government-initiative to fund regional studies. The money is from the Higher Education Funding Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the Scottish Funding Council.
The £25 million program is the the first time the British government has awarded academic funding through open competition.
Thirteen proposals from university groups were shortlisted for a final interview, and five groups were awarded the government funding in the end.
The initiative will also fund the British Interuniversity China Center, the University of Edinburgh's center of research for Arabic-speaking countries, University College London's center for East European and former Soviet Union language-based area studies, and a research center focused on Eastern Europe at the University of Glasgow.
Speaking about how the government gave combined funding to NICS and the British Interuniversity China Center, Hook said that while China has grown in importance, Japanese studies have not lost their significance.
"Japan is still the second-largest economy in the world and an extremely important partner to the U.K.," Hook said, noting the two nations share similar views. "People should recognize the continuing importance of Japan in the world.
"We were very keen to have a strong governance structure involving international advisory boards, and also include representatives of the community," Hook said of the funding proposal for NIJS. He also said the University of Sheffield, founded in the early 1960s, had the advantage of having "trained Ph.D. students for many years."
About four new students will be welcomed annually to WREAC. Applicants, restricted to European Union citizens, must have expertise in their areas of study as well applicable language abilities.
Participants in the program will be able to take advantage of the center's links with more than 30 universities in China and Japan, including the University of Tokyo.
"We've always lacked the ability to enable the students to continue their studies, but the new funding will be a great opportunity," Hook said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060715f1.html
Private universities tie up with high schools
Private universities are scrambling to form tie-ups with junior and senior high schools to secure future students--and survival--amid the falling birthrate, school officials said.
Some universities are tying up with schools other than their affiliates, including public schools, to make up for the shrinking enrollment, they said.
Under certain conditions, private universities will grant admission to students from affiliated schools without having them take admission exams, giving the students an easier route to a college education, the officials said.
Chuo University High School, a private school affiliated with Chuo University, and adjacent Daisan (No. 3) Junior High School, a public school run by Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, are working out a tie-up contract.
Under the plan, which would mark the first such contract between private and public schools, at least 10 or more students at the Daisan Junior High School can enroll at Chuo University High School without taking the entrance examination. The new system is expected to start from the 2009 school year.
Since almost all students at the private high school who meet the necessary conditions can enroll at Chuo University, the new system will give qualified students at Daisan Junior High School entry into Chuo University without any admission exams.
The junior high school has 95 students.
The tie-ups are more common in the Kansai region.
Kwansei Gakuin University, a private university based in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, formed an affiliation with three junior and senior high schools in January.
Those secondary schools in the 2007 academic year will introduce classes designed for enrollment at the university. The students who pass those classes will, in principle, be allowed to attend the university.
Similar deals were struck with several other junior and senior high schools.
Kyoto Sangyo University reached agreement in March to make Kyoto Seian Junior and Senior High schools its affiliates starting next April.(IHT/Asahi: July 13,2006
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200607130149.html
Some universities are tying up with schools other than their affiliates, including public schools, to make up for the shrinking enrollment, they said.
Under certain conditions, private universities will grant admission to students from affiliated schools without having them take admission exams, giving the students an easier route to a college education, the officials said.
Chuo University High School, a private school affiliated with Chuo University, and adjacent Daisan (No. 3) Junior High School, a public school run by Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, are working out a tie-up contract.
Under the plan, which would mark the first such contract between private and public schools, at least 10 or more students at the Daisan Junior High School can enroll at Chuo University High School without taking the entrance examination. The new system is expected to start from the 2009 school year.
Since almost all students at the private high school who meet the necessary conditions can enroll at Chuo University, the new system will give qualified students at Daisan Junior High School entry into Chuo University without any admission exams.
The junior high school has 95 students.
The tie-ups are more common in the Kansai region.
Kwansei Gakuin University, a private university based in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, formed an affiliation with three junior and senior high schools in January.
Those secondary schools in the 2007 academic year will introduce classes designed for enrollment at the university. The students who pass those classes will, in principle, be allowed to attend the university.
Similar deals were struck with several other junior and senior high schools.
Kyoto Sangyo University reached agreement in March to make Kyoto Seian Junior and Senior High schools its affiliates starting next April.(IHT/Asahi: July 13,2006
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200607130149.html
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
2006 Japan-Australia StudyLink Cup match times
Current 2006 Japan-Australia StudyLink Cup Match times (Please watch this space):
8/9 3pm Game 1 vs. RMIT Redbacks at Bob Jane Stadium
8/10 4pm Game 2 vs. University of Melbourne - location to be confirmed
8/11 7pm Game 3 vs. Victoria Institute of Sport at the Darebin International Sports Centre.
Please send any questions to joshua.flannery@studylink.com
StudyLink scores a goal for cultural exchange
As World Cup fever takes hold, Japanese and Australian university students are preparing to go head to head on the soccer pitch to mark the Year of Exchange between the two countries. The StudyLink Cup will see a team of 23 Japanese university students, selected and sponsored by the Kansai Student Soccer Federation, fly to Melbourne for a soccer tour of several Australian universities. The event is to also celebrate the Osaka-Melbourne sister city relationship - the Kansai team players being based in and around Osaka city.
International student recruitment firm StudyLink organised the inaugural tournament to promote sport, language and cultural exchange. StudyLink CEO Jason Howard said: “We’re committed to bringing students together and promoting understanding through education. What better way to initiate this than through sport?”
The RMIT University will host the Japanese team during its August 7 to 12 stay. While in Melbourne the team will play the RMIT Redbacks, the University of Melbourne team, and the budding national team-members of the Victorian Institute of Sport. RMIT will provide accommodation for the visitors and, with 200 of the university’s students learning Japanese, there will be no shortage of people to host, guide and socialise with the team. The school has also invited the team into their language class to enjoy a discussion about soccer and the World Cup.
Melbourne City International has organised a lunch at the Melbourne Town Hall on August 10 where the Japanese players and others involved in the StudyLink Cup will be met by the city’s councillors. The StudyLink Cup has been endorsed by the 2006 Japan-Australia Year of Exchange Committee and its participants will by vying for a prize sponsored by the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
8/9 3pm Game 1 vs. RMIT Redbacks at Bob Jane Stadium
8/10 4pm Game 2 vs. University of Melbourne - location to be confirmed
8/11 7pm Game 3 vs. Victoria Institute of Sport at the Darebin International Sports Centre.
Please send any questions to joshua.flannery@studylink.com
StudyLink scores a goal for cultural exchange
As World Cup fever takes hold, Japanese and Australian university students are preparing to go head to head on the soccer pitch to mark the Year of Exchange between the two countries. The StudyLink Cup will see a team of 23 Japanese university students, selected and sponsored by the Kansai Student Soccer Federation, fly to Melbourne for a soccer tour of several Australian universities. The event is to also celebrate the Osaka-Melbourne sister city relationship - the Kansai team players being based in and around Osaka city.
International student recruitment firm StudyLink organised the inaugural tournament to promote sport, language and cultural exchange. StudyLink CEO Jason Howard said: “We’re committed to bringing students together and promoting understanding through education. What better way to initiate this than through sport?”
The RMIT University will host the Japanese team during its August 7 to 12 stay. While in Melbourne the team will play the RMIT Redbacks, the University of Melbourne team, and the budding national team-members of the Victorian Institute of Sport. RMIT will provide accommodation for the visitors and, with 200 of the university’s students learning Japanese, there will be no shortage of people to host, guide and socialise with the team. The school has also invited the team into their language class to enjoy a discussion about soccer and the World Cup.
Melbourne City International has organised a lunch at the Melbourne Town Hall on August 10 where the Japanese players and others involved in the StudyLink Cup will be met by the city’s councillors. The StudyLink Cup has been endorsed by the 2006 Japan-Australia Year of Exchange Committee and its participants will by vying for a prize sponsored by the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
Japan offers scholarships to Indian students
Japan offers scholarships to Indian students
Mumbai, July 1 (UNI)
The Government of Japan is offering scholarships to Indian students for the academic year 2007 under the Japanese Government (Mombukagakusho:MEXT) scholarship programme.
Indian students, who wish to study in Japanese universities as undergraduate students, technology students or professional training college students, can avail the programme, a press release issued by the office of the Consulate General of Japan here said.
The scholarships for engineering students are for a period of four years, whereas professional training college students in the field of civil, electrical and electronics engineering including architecture, telecommunication, nutrition, infant education, secretarial studies, hotel management, tourism, fashion, dressmaking, design, and photography is for three years.
The candidates should be between 17-21 years of age as on April 1, 2007 and must have completed a 12-year course of school education with a minimum of 65 per cent marks in aggregate.
Applicants should also be willing to learn the Japanese language and to receive university education in it, the release said.The scholarship will be 134,000 yen per month, which is subject to change. The last date for applying is July 14, 2006. Further information can be accessed on www.in.emb-japan.go.jp.
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_sub.asp?ccode=ENG3&newscode=142798
Mumbai, July 1 (UNI)
The Government of Japan is offering scholarships to Indian students for the academic year 2007 under the Japanese Government (Mombukagakusho:MEXT) scholarship programme.
Indian students, who wish to study in Japanese universities as undergraduate students, technology students or professional training college students, can avail the programme, a press release issued by the office of the Consulate General of Japan here said.
The scholarships for engineering students are for a period of four years, whereas professional training college students in the field of civil, electrical and electronics engineering including architecture, telecommunication, nutrition, infant education, secretarial studies, hotel management, tourism, fashion, dressmaking, design, and photography is for three years.
The candidates should be between 17-21 years of age as on April 1, 2007 and must have completed a 12-year course of school education with a minimum of 65 per cent marks in aggregate.
Applicants should also be willing to learn the Japanese language and to receive university education in it, the release said.The scholarship will be 134,000 yen per month, which is subject to change. The last date for applying is July 14, 2006. Further information can be accessed on www.in.emb-japan.go.jp.
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_sub.asp?ccode=ENG3&newscode=142798
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Breakfast--a great way to start the college day
Several universities and the cooperatives that run their dining halls are experimenting with methods to get their students to eat breakfast, such as a "mileage point" system or free breakfast campaigns.
Such ideas are working rather well for the students--not only in making the morning meal a habit, but also in expanding their circle of friends.
Beginning this academic year, the cooperative at Miyagi University of Education in Sendai started a breakfast promotion program called "breakfast marathon."
Under the program, students can collect one point by buying breakfast at the cafeteria run by the cooperative. With five points, they receive a small side dish normally priced at 60 yen. With 10 points, they receive a side of rice and miso soup, and 15 points gets them a 400 yen meal.
Furthermore, the cooperative ran a campaign through late May, in which students were awarded double points when they ate breakfast at the cafeteria in a group of two or more.
University junior Naoki Takahashi collected 15 points in April alone. During the month, he had breakfast at the cafeteria 10 times, five of which were each with a different friend.
"I live on my own, so it's nice to eat with my friends," Takahashi, 21, said. "The points turn into meals, so I can save my living expenses, too."
The cooperative began serving breakfast at the refectory in April 2005, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. At first, however, only about 10 people came each day.
"So we thought we needed a system that would make it fun and advantageous to have breakfast at the dining hall," Takao Tamura, a senior cooperative executive, said.
Since beginning the "breakfast marathon," the number of students eating breakfast in the school's dining hall has jumped fivefold.
At Hakuoh University in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, students have been receiving breakfast for free at the student refectory during part of April for the past six years. The idea is to get students to eat regularly and have a more stable lifestyle. Between April 11 and April 28 this year, about 500 students took advantage of the free breakfast each day.
And at Tottori University, freshmen can have free breakfast for several days immediately after matriculating into the university. This year, they received the gratis meal from April 10 to April 14. Other students and faculty members participated in the program as counselors to offer advice to the freshmen about student life.
According to a survey on students conducted every year by the federation of university cooperatives in Tokyo, 61 percent of students living away from their parents said they do not eat breakfast. Many students also are not getting a balanced diet.
And according to a first-of-its-kind survey in 2005 by the Consumer Cooperative Institute of Japan in Tokyo of about 7,000 students, the number of students claiming they become tired easily was in correlation with the number of students who said they do not regularly eat breakfast. Only about 20 percent of students said they enjoy having breakfast, presumably because they tend to have breakfast alone.
"Even if you are aware and informed about how to protect your health, most of the time you can't do so because it takes money and time," said Ichiro Nishimura, who was in charge of the survey. "It's important to support universities and university cooperatives so that students can have a lively campus life."
(Jun. 19, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060619TDY03001.htm
Such ideas are working rather well for the students--not only in making the morning meal a habit, but also in expanding their circle of friends.
Beginning this academic year, the cooperative at Miyagi University of Education in Sendai started a breakfast promotion program called "breakfast marathon."
Under the program, students can collect one point by buying breakfast at the cafeteria run by the cooperative. With five points, they receive a small side dish normally priced at 60 yen. With 10 points, they receive a side of rice and miso soup, and 15 points gets them a 400 yen meal.
Furthermore, the cooperative ran a campaign through late May, in which students were awarded double points when they ate breakfast at the cafeteria in a group of two or more.
University junior Naoki Takahashi collected 15 points in April alone. During the month, he had breakfast at the cafeteria 10 times, five of which were each with a different friend.
"I live on my own, so it's nice to eat with my friends," Takahashi, 21, said. "The points turn into meals, so I can save my living expenses, too."
The cooperative began serving breakfast at the refectory in April 2005, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. At first, however, only about 10 people came each day.
"So we thought we needed a system that would make it fun and advantageous to have breakfast at the dining hall," Takao Tamura, a senior cooperative executive, said.
Since beginning the "breakfast marathon," the number of students eating breakfast in the school's dining hall has jumped fivefold.
At Hakuoh University in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, students have been receiving breakfast for free at the student refectory during part of April for the past six years. The idea is to get students to eat regularly and have a more stable lifestyle. Between April 11 and April 28 this year, about 500 students took advantage of the free breakfast each day.
And at Tottori University, freshmen can have free breakfast for several days immediately after matriculating into the university. This year, they received the gratis meal from April 10 to April 14. Other students and faculty members participated in the program as counselors to offer advice to the freshmen about student life.
According to a survey on students conducted every year by the federation of university cooperatives in Tokyo, 61 percent of students living away from their parents said they do not eat breakfast. Many students also are not getting a balanced diet.
And according to a first-of-its-kind survey in 2005 by the Consumer Cooperative Institute of Japan in Tokyo of about 7,000 students, the number of students claiming they become tired easily was in correlation with the number of students who said they do not regularly eat breakfast. Only about 20 percent of students said they enjoy having breakfast, presumably because they tend to have breakfast alone.
"Even if you are aware and informed about how to protect your health, most of the time you can't do so because it takes money and time," said Ichiro Nishimura, who was in charge of the survey. "It's important to support universities and university cooperatives so that students can have a lively campus life."
(Jun. 19, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060619TDY03001.htm
New farm skills training course a flop with NEETs
It seems the promise of important job skills and fresh country air are not enough to lure the nation's growing NEET and "freeter" population into action.
In fact, only six people have applied to take part in a farm skills training program recently set up by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The program offers three separate farm training courses for NEETs, or people not in education, employment or training, and freeters, young people who hop from one part-time job to another.
The idea was to have participants take up farm internships while studying management and agricultural production engineering for up to six months, thereby solving the NEET dilemma and at the same time boosting the dwindling rural workforce.
Ministry officials calculated 120 people a year would take part in the "Challenge! Farm School" program annually.
The three- to six- month courses slated to have started at separate locations in Ibaraki and Nagano prefectures in April. Officials are now scrambling to make up numbers.
As well as sending brochures to unemployment offices nationwide, they are also offering the course to prospective workers on a trial basis for one to six days.
According to a number of nonprofit organizations that work with young people, the high price tag of the courses, as well as the length, is most likely where the ministry went wrong.
The six-month program costs about 570,000 yen.(IHT/Asahi: June 12,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200606120105.html
In fact, only six people have applied to take part in a farm skills training program recently set up by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The program offers three separate farm training courses for NEETs, or people not in education, employment or training, and freeters, young people who hop from one part-time job to another.
The idea was to have participants take up farm internships while studying management and agricultural production engineering for up to six months, thereby solving the NEET dilemma and at the same time boosting the dwindling rural workforce.
Ministry officials calculated 120 people a year would take part in the "Challenge! Farm School" program annually.
The three- to six- month courses slated to have started at separate locations in Ibaraki and Nagano prefectures in April. Officials are now scrambling to make up numbers.
As well as sending brochures to unemployment offices nationwide, they are also offering the course to prospective workers on a trial basis for one to six days.
According to a number of nonprofit organizations that work with young people, the high price tag of the courses, as well as the length, is most likely where the ministry went wrong.
The six-month program costs about 570,000 yen.(IHT/Asahi: June 12,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200606120105.html
Friday, June 16, 2006
Minato Ward, Temple to foster intl awareness
Minato Ward, Tokyo, and Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ), have concluded a basic agreement to collaborate in a series of projects to foster international understanding and cross-cultural communication.
Since its opening in 1982 as a full-scale branch campus of the Pennsylvania state university, TUJ has been based in Minato Ward.
During a signing ceremony held at the end of last month at TUJ, Minato Ward Mayor Masaaki Takei said his ward had formed a partnership with the institution to offer better services as "one of the nation's richest municipalities in terms of internationalism." The ward has many foreign residents from various countries as there are numerous foreign embassies and international firms located there.
Under the agreement, the two sides will offer their knowledge, services and resources to each other in the fields of education, culture and community development.
For example, TUJ will offer two programs to local public schools during its summer vacation--a seminar on English teaching for teachers as well as a summer program for middle school students. TUJ will also dispatch its students and instructors to primary and middle schools as assistants for classes on cross-cultural communication.
Moreover, the Japan campus will offer some academic services to local residents and ward officials. These will include classes in English and Japanese, such as a training program for ward officials to brush up their English skills. They will also be able to take courses at TUJ at discounted rates.
At the same time, the Minato Ward office will allow those studying and working at TUJ to use the ward's sports facilities at discounted rates, as the campus does not have such facilities of its own.
The two sides have also agreed to make their libraries available to each other, while also dispatching students or ward officials and teachers to each other as interns or trainees for the purpose of human resource development.
"We hope to provide opportunities for those who live and work in Minato [Ward] to acquire the communication skills necessary to be truly global citizens," said TUJ Dean Kirk Patterson.
(Jun. 9, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20060609TDY20001.htm
Since its opening in 1982 as a full-scale branch campus of the Pennsylvania state university, TUJ has been based in Minato Ward.
During a signing ceremony held at the end of last month at TUJ, Minato Ward Mayor Masaaki Takei said his ward had formed a partnership with the institution to offer better services as "one of the nation's richest municipalities in terms of internationalism." The ward has many foreign residents from various countries as there are numerous foreign embassies and international firms located there.
Under the agreement, the two sides will offer their knowledge, services and resources to each other in the fields of education, culture and community development.
For example, TUJ will offer two programs to local public schools during its summer vacation--a seminar on English teaching for teachers as well as a summer program for middle school students. TUJ will also dispatch its students and instructors to primary and middle schools as assistants for classes on cross-cultural communication.
Moreover, the Japan campus will offer some academic services to local residents and ward officials. These will include classes in English and Japanese, such as a training program for ward officials to brush up their English skills. They will also be able to take courses at TUJ at discounted rates.
At the same time, the Minato Ward office will allow those studying and working at TUJ to use the ward's sports facilities at discounted rates, as the campus does not have such facilities of its own.
The two sides have also agreed to make their libraries available to each other, while also dispatching students or ward officials and teachers to each other as interns or trainees for the purpose of human resource development.
"We hope to provide opportunities for those who live and work in Minato [Ward] to acquire the communication skills necessary to be truly global citizens," said TUJ Dean Kirk Patterson.
(Jun. 9, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20060609TDY20001.htm
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Toyota International Teacher Program Sends US Teachers to Japan
40 Educational Ambassadors Participate in Study Tour
TORRANCE, Calif., June 1 -- 40 U.S. teachers, chosen as educational ambassadors through the Toyota International Teacher Program (TITP), will spend two rigorous weeks this June traveling through rural and urban Japan from Tokyo to northern Kyushu. Now in its 8th year, the program sends teachers on a study tour to learn about Japan's past and present, explore global issues and experience this significant culture firsthand. This unique experience has distinguished the TITP program as one of the preeminent teacher study-abroad programs in the country for American teachers.
Since its inception, TITP has attracted interest from more than 4,000 teachers who have submitted applications. This year, the delegation of teachers represent 10 US states -- Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee. They will bring their unique perspectives to those they meet in Japan and upon their return to the U.S. share insights from their Japan experience with their students.
"In many ways, teachers are catalysts in the global community and are in a unique position to educate students on the world in which we live," said Michael Rouse, corporate manager, philanthropy and community affairs, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. "We are proud to provide teachers with a first-hand experience that helps enhance their curriculum through international study."
Funded through an annual $825,000 grant from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., the program is the only one of its kind sponsored by a major U.S. corporation. To date, a total of 360 teachers from all over the U.S. have participated in the 8 year-old program. This year's trip to Japan will take place June 23 through July 5.
The Institute of International Education (IIE) in Washington, D.C., the nation's most experienced non-profit educational exchange organization, administers the program. "The Toyota International Teacher Program provides teachers with experiences and tools they can use to enable their students to think and act on a cooperative and global basis," said IIE President and CEO Dr. Allan E. Goodman.
The study tour to Japan is the first of three professional development programs for teachers that Toyota will sponsor in the next year. The next study tour will be to the Galapagos Islands this October. The selection process for this program is currently underway, including applications from many bilingual educators. In March 2007, another international professional development opportunity will be offered in Costa Rica. TITP is proud that these three distinct study-abroad programs will enable U.S. teachers to enhance their curricula through meaningful interaction with a variety of people, cultures and environments.
TITP in Japan focuses on four themes -- history, education, environment, and technology -- and how these affect industry and society. Program activities include visits to elementary, secondary and university level schools, factories, and sites of historical and environmental importance and will be highlighted by discussions with well-known authors, historians, educators and business leaders.
The 40 educators traveling to Japan this summer teach a variety of subjects and were selected based on their professional and leadership qualifications, as well as their plans to incorporate their experiences and research into their curriculum. To be eligible teachers must be a U.S. citizen, employed full-time as a secondary classroom teacher (grades 9-12), and have a minimum of three years teaching experience.
Japan TITP program alumni Daniel Bryant and Cindy Hasselbring, will return to Japan as "Traveling Alumni" to help mentor members of the new group, as well as extend their own previous TITP experience.
TITP demonstrates the company's long-standing commitment to supporting education. In 2005, Toyota USA contributed nearly $41 million to U.S. philanthropic programs, with a majority of funding supporting education. Besides donating to a wide range of educational organizations, Toyota has created its own innovative programs, including grants for science teachers, scholarships for students, technical training and family literacy programs.
Founded in 1957, TMS is the sales, marketing, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion in the United States, marketing products and services through a network of 1,415 dealers in 49 states.
About Toyota's Education Programs
In addition to sponsoring a number of nonprofit educational organizations, Toyota offers three major programs that support teachers with grants and students with scholarships; Toyota TAPESTRY, the largest K-12 science teacher grant program of its kind in the U.S.; Toyota Community Scholars, which provides 100 scholarships to high school seniors based on academics and community service; and the Toyota International Teacher Program. Toyota also supports scholarships through the Hispanic Scholarship Fund; United Negro College Fund; Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation; National FFA; and the American Indian College Fund.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/06/01/009317.html
TORRANCE, Calif., June 1 -- 40 U.S. teachers, chosen as educational ambassadors through the Toyota International Teacher Program (TITP), will spend two rigorous weeks this June traveling through rural and urban Japan from Tokyo to northern Kyushu. Now in its 8th year, the program sends teachers on a study tour to learn about Japan's past and present, explore global issues and experience this significant culture firsthand. This unique experience has distinguished the TITP program as one of the preeminent teacher study-abroad programs in the country for American teachers.
Since its inception, TITP has attracted interest from more than 4,000 teachers who have submitted applications. This year, the delegation of teachers represent 10 US states -- Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee. They will bring their unique perspectives to those they meet in Japan and upon their return to the U.S. share insights from their Japan experience with their students.
"In many ways, teachers are catalysts in the global community and are in a unique position to educate students on the world in which we live," said Michael Rouse, corporate manager, philanthropy and community affairs, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. "We are proud to provide teachers with a first-hand experience that helps enhance their curriculum through international study."
Funded through an annual $825,000 grant from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., the program is the only one of its kind sponsored by a major U.S. corporation. To date, a total of 360 teachers from all over the U.S. have participated in the 8 year-old program. This year's trip to Japan will take place June 23 through July 5.
The Institute of International Education (IIE) in Washington, D.C., the nation's most experienced non-profit educational exchange organization, administers the program. "The Toyota International Teacher Program provides teachers with experiences and tools they can use to enable their students to think and act on a cooperative and global basis," said IIE President and CEO Dr. Allan E. Goodman.
The study tour to Japan is the first of three professional development programs for teachers that Toyota will sponsor in the next year. The next study tour will be to the Galapagos Islands this October. The selection process for this program is currently underway, including applications from many bilingual educators. In March 2007, another international professional development opportunity will be offered in Costa Rica. TITP is proud that these three distinct study-abroad programs will enable U.S. teachers to enhance their curricula through meaningful interaction with a variety of people, cultures and environments.
TITP in Japan focuses on four themes -- history, education, environment, and technology -- and how these affect industry and society. Program activities include visits to elementary, secondary and university level schools, factories, and sites of historical and environmental importance and will be highlighted by discussions with well-known authors, historians, educators and business leaders.
The 40 educators traveling to Japan this summer teach a variety of subjects and were selected based on their professional and leadership qualifications, as well as their plans to incorporate their experiences and research into their curriculum. To be eligible teachers must be a U.S. citizen, employed full-time as a secondary classroom teacher (grades 9-12), and have a minimum of three years teaching experience.
Japan TITP program alumni Daniel Bryant and Cindy Hasselbring, will return to Japan as "Traveling Alumni" to help mentor members of the new group, as well as extend their own previous TITP experience.
TITP demonstrates the company's long-standing commitment to supporting education. In 2005, Toyota USA contributed nearly $41 million to U.S. philanthropic programs, with a majority of funding supporting education. Besides donating to a wide range of educational organizations, Toyota has created its own innovative programs, including grants for science teachers, scholarships for students, technical training and family literacy programs.
Founded in 1957, TMS is the sales, marketing, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion in the United States, marketing products and services through a network of 1,415 dealers in 49 states.
About Toyota's Education Programs
In addition to sponsoring a number of nonprofit educational organizations, Toyota offers three major programs that support teachers with grants and students with scholarships; Toyota TAPESTRY, the largest K-12 science teacher grant program of its kind in the U.S.; Toyota Community Scholars, which provides 100 scholarships to high school seniors based on academics and community service; and the Toyota International Teacher Program. Toyota also supports scholarships through the Hispanic Scholarship Fund; United Negro College Fund; Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation; National FFA; and the American Indian College Fund.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/06/01/009317.html
Monday, May 22, 2006
National tour guide exam to be held overseas
The Construction and Transport Ministry is to hold a tour guide license examination overseas for the first time.
The first-stage written examination for the multilingual national tour guide license will be held in China, Taiwan and South Korea in early September at the same time as the test is taken in Japan.
The examination will be held in Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul and Taipei. The second-stage oral test will be held only in Japan.
In 2004, of the foreign tourists who visited Japan, 32.5 percent were from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. South Korean holidaymakers accounted for 25.9 percent of tourists.
However, only 9.2 percent of certified tour guides are licensed in Chinese and a mere 4.5 percent in Korean, forcing the government to train more qualified Chinese- and Korean-speaking guides.
(May. 22, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060522TDY02010.htm
The first-stage written examination for the multilingual national tour guide license will be held in China, Taiwan and South Korea in early September at the same time as the test is taken in Japan.
The examination will be held in Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul and Taipei. The second-stage oral test will be held only in Japan.
In 2004, of the foreign tourists who visited Japan, 32.5 percent were from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. South Korean holidaymakers accounted for 25.9 percent of tourists.
However, only 9.2 percent of certified tour guides are licensed in Chinese and a mere 4.5 percent in Korean, forcing the government to train more qualified Chinese- and Korean-speaking guides.
(May. 22, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060522TDY02010.htm
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
France to set up French-language high school in Tokyo
France plans to set up high schools in Tokyo and other major cities abroad to conduct lessons in French, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Monday.
In the first round of the plan, France will also establish such schools in Munich, London and Cairo, Douste-Blazy said at a press conference.
Through cooperation with private organizations, the government hopes to spread French culture overseas and nurture elite people with a good command of French.
The government also plans to establish around the world organizations for introducing French culture and liaison offices for accepting applications from foreign students who want to receive advanced education in France, Douste-Blazy said. (Jiji Press)
May 16, 2006
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/europe/news/20060516p2g00m0in007000c.html
In the first round of the plan, France will also establish such schools in Munich, London and Cairo, Douste-Blazy said at a press conference.
Through cooperation with private organizations, the government hopes to spread French culture overseas and nurture elite people with a good command of French.
The government also plans to establish around the world organizations for introducing French culture and liaison offices for accepting applications from foreign students who want to receive advanced education in France, Douste-Blazy said. (Jiji Press)
May 16, 2006
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/europe/news/20060516p2g00m0in007000c.html
Monday, May 15, 2006
Govt panel identifies 12 skills needed in society
A government panel has identified the abilities required to be a good citizen and worker, to help students prepare for job-hunting and provide a common view among students and firms as to what the most important abilities are.
The panel, chaired by Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, was set up to promote the diversification of job opportunities. It compiled a list of 12 fundamental abilities every citizen should have, which include: independence; planning skills; listening skills; respect for social rules; flexibility; creativity; analytical skills; people skills; expressive skills; coping with stress, and being goal-oriented.
The formalization of abilities needed at the workplace and within local communities is expected to help students find a job and assist them to acquire necessary job skills.
The categorization is expected to help companies and students agree on what abilities can be expected beyond those directly related to occupation or educational background, when companies recruit or students apply for a job.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060515TDY03003.htm
The panel, chaired by Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, was set up to promote the diversification of job opportunities. It compiled a list of 12 fundamental abilities every citizen should have, which include: independence; planning skills; listening skills; respect for social rules; flexibility; creativity; analytical skills; people skills; expressive skills; coping with stress, and being goal-oriented.
The formalization of abilities needed at the workplace and within local communities is expected to help students find a job and assist them to acquire necessary job skills.
The categorization is expected to help companies and students agree on what abilities can be expected beyond those directly related to occupation or educational background, when companies recruit or students apply for a job.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060515TDY03003.htm
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Oxford Univ. considering setting up Japanese branch school
Oxford University is considering setting up a branch school in Japan in cooperation with Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co., sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The specifics of the plan, such as the timing and how the new school's capital will be financed, have not yet been decided, the sources said.
In June 2004, the British university and the trading house agreed to jointly engage in some forms of new business related to high technology in such fields as biotechnology and information technology.
The two parties have since tried to realize the project, with a wholly owned subsidiary of the university holding talks with multiple Japanese companies on relevant technological research and development, they added.
In a written statement sent to Kyodo News in London, Oxford University said, "Oxford University enjoys a cooperative and collaborative relationship with Mitsui on a number of fronts, and that relationship is expanding. However, there are no plans to develop an Oxford University campus in Japan at this time."
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060510/kyodo/d8hh1qvg2.html
The specifics of the plan, such as the timing and how the new school's capital will be financed, have not yet been decided, the sources said.
In June 2004, the British university and the trading house agreed to jointly engage in some forms of new business related to high technology in such fields as biotechnology and information technology.
The two parties have since tried to realize the project, with a wholly owned subsidiary of the university holding talks with multiple Japanese companies on relevant technological research and development, they added.
In a written statement sent to Kyodo News in London, Oxford University said, "Oxford University enjoys a cooperative and collaborative relationship with Mitsui on a number of fronts, and that relationship is expanding. However, there are no plans to develop an Oxford University campus in Japan at this time."
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060510/kyodo/d8hh1qvg2.html
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Adult education courses to provide career skills certification
Adults taking university extension courses to improve their skills or knowledge for career changes or reemployment will be eligible for certification under a new system to be established by the government, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The certification system, which was conceived as a response to criticism the nation has experienced a widening economic gap under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, is designed to give adults a chance to increase their job skills and have them officially recognized with certificates for courses such as finance or information technology.
The proposed system will be included among policies to be mapped out this month by a government council to promote a more skilled workforce, chaired by Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe. Sources say the system could be put into practice as early as next academic year.
Though many national, public and private universities offer adult education classes, there are no criteria for the courses, which range from general interest subjects to graduate school-level study. However, only some universities present their students with certificates.
(May. 9, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060509TDY02005.htm
The certification system, which was conceived as a response to criticism the nation has experienced a widening economic gap under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, is designed to give adults a chance to increase their job skills and have them officially recognized with certificates for courses such as finance or information technology.
The proposed system will be included among policies to be mapped out this month by a government council to promote a more skilled workforce, chaired by Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe. Sources say the system could be put into practice as early as next academic year.
Though many national, public and private universities offer adult education classes, there are no criteria for the courses, which range from general interest subjects to graduate school-level study. However, only some universities present their students with certificates.
(May. 9, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060509TDY02005.htm
Monday, May 08, 2006
Encouraging students to speak in many voices
With the population of 18-year-olds decreasing every year, Japanese universities are facing a fight for survival. Over a quarter of them could not recruit enough students to fill their official capacity last year.
Foreign language faculties are no exception. Although learning English has had an unprecedented boom in Japan in recent years, this has not really benefited university foreign language faculties.
For one thing, other departments have been putting increasingly more emphasis on their own English teaching programs. English, in other words, is no longer the specialty of the English department.
Other departments such as German and French are also having difficulty recruiting good students. Moreover, the demand of the students in these departments--and even of their parents--for more English-language courses is so strong that these departments are on the verge of sacrificing their own courses to open extra English courses.
This is a sad situation. True, none can deny the importance of English as a communication tool in today's globalized world. To learn different languages, though, is also to learn and understand different cultures and peoples, to better appreciate the values of others and learn how humanity can better coexist.
Oddly enough, a growing number of foreigners living in Japan are non-English-speaking Asians and South Americans. Since many of them have Asian features, especially Chinese and Koreans, we tend to overlook this fact. But even our neighborhoods are becoming multicultural, a tendency that will increase with the anticipated future shortage of younger workers.
In such a society, learning English alone seems insufficient, as important as the language may be in business and academic environments.
What should the future of a faculty of foreign languages be in this situation?
I have two tentative, contradictory prescriptions: The first is to make our students specialists, and the second is to make them generalists.
The first applies to the departments of English and other languages. To survive in the current situation, English majors must have excellent language skills, and the department should offer effective and extensive language programs.
The same applies to the departments of other languages--though fortunately, these students may not need extraordinarily high-level skills because they have fewer competitors than English majors. Nonetheless, these departments should still provide their students with a minimal English proficiency.
In addition, all language departments should offer sets of courses to make their students specialists in their chosen fields. Students should be equipped with both the theoretical and practical aspects of communication needed to understand the culture and to interact with the people who use the language they are learning. The keyword here is communication, or "intercultural communication." My hypothesis is that you can cope with a multicultural situation if you have sufficiently mastered a bicultural one.
My second proposed solution--producing generalists--is based on my experience with the Department of Languages and Culture at Dokkyo.
Here, students are required to learn both English and either Spanish or Chinese; they study both languages equally. The department also offers a good Japanese language program and has successfully recruited students from overseas, especially from East Asian countries where Japanese and English are usually emphasized.
Many of the faculty here come from the former liberal arts division, which used to take care of liberal arts education for the whole university. Partly as a result, the department offers a wide variety of courses, including Japanese studies.
Despite our worries that it was too far oriented to producing generalists, it has been successful since its creation seven years ago. Many of the graduates have a very good reputation in the business and academic sectors. The department's emphasis on liberal arts education and the study of not only Spanish-speaking areas and China but Japan itself, together with the multicultural environment created by the overseas students, has made its students the kind of language majors that can send out messages about their own country and culture--true generalists, in other words.
As we are not yet sure which of these two solutions is correct, we have decided to create a new faculty of "international liberal arts" by enlarging and strengthening the present Department of Languages and Culture.
In this new faculty, students will be able to also learn English and Korean. The emphasis will be on the study of the developing Pacific Rim regions, the evaluation of Japanese culture and thought, the understanding of the significance of the multilingual and multicultural environment, and on international exchanges. The program will start next April if approved by the Ministry of Education.
Which will appeal more, the generalist or the specialist approach? Hopefully, both answers are correct.
* * *
The author is the dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Dokkyo University.(IHT/Asahi: May 8,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200605080091.html
Foreign language faculties are no exception. Although learning English has had an unprecedented boom in Japan in recent years, this has not really benefited university foreign language faculties.
For one thing, other departments have been putting increasingly more emphasis on their own English teaching programs. English, in other words, is no longer the specialty of the English department.
Other departments such as German and French are also having difficulty recruiting good students. Moreover, the demand of the students in these departments--and even of their parents--for more English-language courses is so strong that these departments are on the verge of sacrificing their own courses to open extra English courses.
This is a sad situation. True, none can deny the importance of English as a communication tool in today's globalized world. To learn different languages, though, is also to learn and understand different cultures and peoples, to better appreciate the values of others and learn how humanity can better coexist.
Oddly enough, a growing number of foreigners living in Japan are non-English-speaking Asians and South Americans. Since many of them have Asian features, especially Chinese and Koreans, we tend to overlook this fact. But even our neighborhoods are becoming multicultural, a tendency that will increase with the anticipated future shortage of younger workers.
In such a society, learning English alone seems insufficient, as important as the language may be in business and academic environments.
What should the future of a faculty of foreign languages be in this situation?
I have two tentative, contradictory prescriptions: The first is to make our students specialists, and the second is to make them generalists.
The first applies to the departments of English and other languages. To survive in the current situation, English majors must have excellent language skills, and the department should offer effective and extensive language programs.
The same applies to the departments of other languages--though fortunately, these students may not need extraordinarily high-level skills because they have fewer competitors than English majors. Nonetheless, these departments should still provide their students with a minimal English proficiency.
In addition, all language departments should offer sets of courses to make their students specialists in their chosen fields. Students should be equipped with both the theoretical and practical aspects of communication needed to understand the culture and to interact with the people who use the language they are learning. The keyword here is communication, or "intercultural communication." My hypothesis is that you can cope with a multicultural situation if you have sufficiently mastered a bicultural one.
My second proposed solution--producing generalists--is based on my experience with the Department of Languages and Culture at Dokkyo.
Here, students are required to learn both English and either Spanish or Chinese; they study both languages equally. The department also offers a good Japanese language program and has successfully recruited students from overseas, especially from East Asian countries where Japanese and English are usually emphasized.
Many of the faculty here come from the former liberal arts division, which used to take care of liberal arts education for the whole university. Partly as a result, the department offers a wide variety of courses, including Japanese studies.
Despite our worries that it was too far oriented to producing generalists, it has been successful since its creation seven years ago. Many of the graduates have a very good reputation in the business and academic sectors. The department's emphasis on liberal arts education and the study of not only Spanish-speaking areas and China but Japan itself, together with the multicultural environment created by the overseas students, has made its students the kind of language majors that can send out messages about their own country and culture--true generalists, in other words.
As we are not yet sure which of these two solutions is correct, we have decided to create a new faculty of "international liberal arts" by enlarging and strengthening the present Department of Languages and Culture.
In this new faculty, students will be able to also learn English and Korean. The emphasis will be on the study of the developing Pacific Rim regions, the evaluation of Japanese culture and thought, the understanding of the significance of the multilingual and multicultural environment, and on international exchanges. The program will start next April if approved by the Ministry of Education.
Which will appeal more, the generalist or the specialist approach? Hopefully, both answers are correct.
* * *
The author is the dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Dokkyo University.(IHT/Asahi: May 8,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200605080091.html
Virtual experience video game turns arcades into classrooms
Konami Corp. aims to lure bookworms into game arcades.
Its bait? The summer debut of a game that tests the player's English skills.
The company's move comes on a wave of popularity of home console video games that involve mental exercises, such as Brain Age for Nintendo Co.'s DS handheld machine.
Konami expects the new game, to be jointly developed with foreign-language school operator Nova Corp., to attract new customers to game arcades.
"Game de Ryugaku!? (Virtual overseas study experience)" consists of 15 English-based games featuring Nova's rabbit-like character Nova Usagi.
Players indicate the correct answer on the machine's touch-screen with a stylus. They can touch words to complete an English idiom or make Nova Usagi's parachute land on the correct answer.
The difficulty will range from junior high school level to questions that could prove to be posers even for native speakers, Konami said.
Players will get promoted to higher grades according to the level of questions solved.
A personal card will be issued that identifies the player so that he or she can continue from the grade achieved on the game last played.
"This is a new genre that can bring in people who do not usually come to game arcades," a Konami official said.
The company is considering developing other educational games for mathematics and kanji.(IHT/Asahi: May 3,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200605030105.html
Its bait? The summer debut of a game that tests the player's English skills.
The company's move comes on a wave of popularity of home console video games that involve mental exercises, such as Brain Age for Nintendo Co.'s DS handheld machine.
Konami expects the new game, to be jointly developed with foreign-language school operator Nova Corp., to attract new customers to game arcades.
"Game de Ryugaku!? (Virtual overseas study experience)" consists of 15 English-based games featuring Nova's rabbit-like character Nova Usagi.
Players indicate the correct answer on the machine's touch-screen with a stylus. They can touch words to complete an English idiom or make Nova Usagi's parachute land on the correct answer.
The difficulty will range from junior high school level to questions that could prove to be posers even for native speakers, Konami said.
Players will get promoted to higher grades according to the level of questions solved.
A personal card will be issued that identifies the player so that he or she can continue from the grade achieved on the game last played.
"This is a new genre that can bring in people who do not usually come to game arcades," a Konami official said.
The company is considering developing other educational games for mathematics and kanji.(IHT/Asahi: May 3,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200605030105.html
Monday, May 01, 2006
TOEIC revisions mean big change in English study
A major revision of the Test of English for International Communications, or TOEIC, that will be implemented with testing on May 28 is sure to make people studying English work a lot harder.
Kazumi Iwase gives lessons recently at ARE, a school in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, that specializes in preparing students for TOEIC.
TOEIC, which consists of listening and reading portions to evaluate English proficiency, has a corner on the English qualification test market in Japan.
This is one of TOEIC's biggest markets, with nearly 1.5 million people here taking it in fiscal 2005 while the overall number worldwide stood at some 4.5 million in 2004, according to the Institute for International Business Communication.
It is the first revision since the English proficiency test for nonnative speakers was launched in 1979.
The changes will be instituted next year for group participants who take the exam on a corporate basis.
"The idea behind the changes is to make the test 'more authentic' . . . and meet the needs of the times and the situation regarding how English is actually being used" at work, said Kazumi Yamamoto, an IIBC spokeswoman. The IIBC is the Japanese administrator of TOEIC, which is a product of the U.S.-based English Testing Service.
"For the past 25 years, we have seen such changes as the emergence of e-mail as a major communication means," while reading and analyzing long passages in English is growing increasingly more common in the business field, she said.
The biggest changes in the new listening portion of the test is that it will use four accents -- American, British, Canadian and Australian -- and each conversation will be longer.
In the reading section, error recognition questions will be replaced by fill-in-the blanks based on long passages. Test-takers will be required to answer questions by reading two interrelated passages instead of a single passage.
The number of total questions, 200, and the duration, two hours, will remain unchanged. Scores range from 10 to 990.
Although the IIBC maintains these changes are not intended to make the exam more difficult, it is widely perceived as a step toward more dramatic revisions, prompting many to take the test before it gets harder.
The number of people who took the test in March -- the last time under the old version -- was a record 140,000, up 19.2 percent year-on-year, according to the IIBC.
ETS is also considering the addition of new writing and speaking components in the future, the IIBC said.
The media has reported that the writing and speaking components will be added in late 2006, but the IIBC said the timing has not been decided.
All Round English Inc., which operates a school in Tokyo focusing on preparing for TOEIC, believes it is inevitable that ETS will make the test more difficult.
"The future direction of (TOEIC) is to prevent test-takers who only learn techniques from getting high marks," ARE President Yoshinari Nagamoto said.
The revision will affect many workers in Japan.
Some 2,500 companies, organizations and educational institutions here use the test not only to assess English proficiency but also to determine promotions and overseas assignments.
Globalization "is inevitably increasing employees' chances of communicating in English at work," said Toyota Motor Corp. spokeswoman Yurika Motoyoshi.
The world's second-largest automaker is rapidly expanding its production bases and overseas networks, making its workers' English training a primary concern.
In 1999, Toyota made it a requirement that administrative and engineering personnel had to have a TOEIC score of at least 600 to be promoted to the equivalent of section chief.
In addition, Toyota introduced TOEIC Bridge -- the English test for beginners whose score ranges from 20 to 180 -- to evaluate the English skills of production workers.
The IIBC tailored the TOEIC Bridge score evaluation to the characteristics of manufacturing employees. For instance, those who attain scores of 96 to 115 "can give instructions on how to attach an armrest of a car."
"As we shift production overseas, an increasing number of manufacturing workers in Japan are being dispatched abroad to support overseas production," to convey not only technical skills but also Toyota's philosophy, to local employees, Motoyoshi said.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. in April raised the TOEIC score requirement to 550 from the previous 450 for almost every employee wishing to be promoted to above the section chief level, while those aspiring to get overseas assignments are required to achieve a score of 650.
"The good thing about TOEIC is that we can objectively assess the workers' ability to use English in terms of scores," said Hiroaki Nishimura of the firm's global human resources team.
"I think 730 is the ideal score level for business in general and we wanted to raise the minimum standard even if only slightly," he said, adding that the electronics giant intends to raise the mandatory level in the future.
He welcomes the revision of TOEIC because it will enable Matsushita to assess its employees' English proficiency more accurately. "Lacking substantial English skills means that you'll get less job opportunities in the workplace."
People who try to learn techniques just to get a good score regardless of their actual ability to communicate in English are going to have a much tougher time with TOEIC now.
But Masahiro Takamoto, who studies English at TOEIC prep school ARE, is optimistic about the exam's future direction.
The 32-year-old employee of Visionare Corp., a venture company engaged in DVD-related business, said his ultimate goal is not to obtain high marks but to gain English skills that will someday help him get a job overseas.
He spends five hours at the school every Saturday, attending four lessons to prepare for the test.
Takamoto, who achieved a TOEIC score of 715 in March, up about 60 points from the last time he took the test two years ago, said preparing for TOEIC helps because he can learn practical words used in business.
"In the long run, the revision of TOEIC will affect me in a good way because I'm serious about improving my English."
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060501f1.html
Kazumi Iwase gives lessons recently at ARE, a school in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, that specializes in preparing students for TOEIC.
TOEIC, which consists of listening and reading portions to evaluate English proficiency, has a corner on the English qualification test market in Japan.
This is one of TOEIC's biggest markets, with nearly 1.5 million people here taking it in fiscal 2005 while the overall number worldwide stood at some 4.5 million in 2004, according to the Institute for International Business Communication.
It is the first revision since the English proficiency test for nonnative speakers was launched in 1979.
The changes will be instituted next year for group participants who take the exam on a corporate basis.
"The idea behind the changes is to make the test 'more authentic' . . . and meet the needs of the times and the situation regarding how English is actually being used" at work, said Kazumi Yamamoto, an IIBC spokeswoman. The IIBC is the Japanese administrator of TOEIC, which is a product of the U.S.-based English Testing Service.
"For the past 25 years, we have seen such changes as the emergence of e-mail as a major communication means," while reading and analyzing long passages in English is growing increasingly more common in the business field, she said.
The biggest changes in the new listening portion of the test is that it will use four accents -- American, British, Canadian and Australian -- and each conversation will be longer.
In the reading section, error recognition questions will be replaced by fill-in-the blanks based on long passages. Test-takers will be required to answer questions by reading two interrelated passages instead of a single passage.
The number of total questions, 200, and the duration, two hours, will remain unchanged. Scores range from 10 to 990.
Although the IIBC maintains these changes are not intended to make the exam more difficult, it is widely perceived as a step toward more dramatic revisions, prompting many to take the test before it gets harder.
The number of people who took the test in March -- the last time under the old version -- was a record 140,000, up 19.2 percent year-on-year, according to the IIBC.
ETS is also considering the addition of new writing and speaking components in the future, the IIBC said.
The media has reported that the writing and speaking components will be added in late 2006, but the IIBC said the timing has not been decided.
All Round English Inc., which operates a school in Tokyo focusing on preparing for TOEIC, believes it is inevitable that ETS will make the test more difficult.
"The future direction of (TOEIC) is to prevent test-takers who only learn techniques from getting high marks," ARE President Yoshinari Nagamoto said.
The revision will affect many workers in Japan.
Some 2,500 companies, organizations and educational institutions here use the test not only to assess English proficiency but also to determine promotions and overseas assignments.
Globalization "is inevitably increasing employees' chances of communicating in English at work," said Toyota Motor Corp. spokeswoman Yurika Motoyoshi.
The world's second-largest automaker is rapidly expanding its production bases and overseas networks, making its workers' English training a primary concern.
In 1999, Toyota made it a requirement that administrative and engineering personnel had to have a TOEIC score of at least 600 to be promoted to the equivalent of section chief.
In addition, Toyota introduced TOEIC Bridge -- the English test for beginners whose score ranges from 20 to 180 -- to evaluate the English skills of production workers.
The IIBC tailored the TOEIC Bridge score evaluation to the characteristics of manufacturing employees. For instance, those who attain scores of 96 to 115 "can give instructions on how to attach an armrest of a car."
"As we shift production overseas, an increasing number of manufacturing workers in Japan are being dispatched abroad to support overseas production," to convey not only technical skills but also Toyota's philosophy, to local employees, Motoyoshi said.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. in April raised the TOEIC score requirement to 550 from the previous 450 for almost every employee wishing to be promoted to above the section chief level, while those aspiring to get overseas assignments are required to achieve a score of 650.
"The good thing about TOEIC is that we can objectively assess the workers' ability to use English in terms of scores," said Hiroaki Nishimura of the firm's global human resources team.
"I think 730 is the ideal score level for business in general and we wanted to raise the minimum standard even if only slightly," he said, adding that the electronics giant intends to raise the mandatory level in the future.
He welcomes the revision of TOEIC because it will enable Matsushita to assess its employees' English proficiency more accurately. "Lacking substantial English skills means that you'll get less job opportunities in the workplace."
People who try to learn techniques just to get a good score regardless of their actual ability to communicate in English are going to have a much tougher time with TOEIC now.
But Masahiro Takamoto, who studies English at TOEIC prep school ARE, is optimistic about the exam's future direction.
The 32-year-old employee of Visionare Corp., a venture company engaged in DVD-related business, said his ultimate goal is not to obtain high marks but to gain English skills that will someday help him get a job overseas.
He spends five hours at the school every Saturday, attending four lessons to prepare for the test.
Takamoto, who achieved a TOEIC score of 715 in March, up about 60 points from the last time he took the test two years ago, said preparing for TOEIC helps because he can learn practical words used in business.
"In the long run, the revision of TOEIC will affect me in a good way because I'm serious about improving my English."
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060501f1.html
Ministry plans to reorganize grad schools
A five-year program to create a better study environment for graduate students and young researchers has been announced by the Education, Science and Technology Ministry. The program, to begin this academic year, aims to rein in autocratic professors and stimulate international competitiveness.
According to the ministry, the program is meant to end the conventional "academic unit system" structure, a hierarchical, apprenticeship-style faculty practice under which a professor bosses around younger researchers.
While the number of students continuing into post-graduate study has rapidly increased in recent years, many graduate schools have been criticized by the business sector and from abroad for poor education levels, officials said Saturday.
Enhancing of the quality of graduate schools is a prerequisite for boosting Japan's international competitiveness in business and technology, the ministry said.
Toward the end of March, the ministry eliminated the academic unit system from the prerequisites for university charters. It also worked out a five-year project called "An Outlook of Measures Necessary for the Promotion of Postgraduate Education."
Under the academic unit system, the head professor in each specialty has a dominant say over assistant professors and other research assistants in his unit regarding personnel affairs and research methods.
Criticism of the apprenticeship-like system has increased among graduate students and other young researchers who say they feel like they are treated as low-paid employees of professors.
The ministry quoted some young researchers complaining that their head professors had monopolized decisions on the content of their research and that they are made to do odd jobs for the professors.
Following the ministry's decision to abolish the system, universities from this academic year have been allowed to create new education-research systems.
Effective from next academic year, the post of assistant professor will be abolished and replaced by the new post of associate professor. Associate professors will be capable of exercising discretion in educating students and undertaking research activities, the officials said.
They said the time has come to revamp the conventional faculty system under which graduate students and other young researchers are supposed to acquire expert knowledge by being assistants to senior professors.
The business community also has criticized the system for lacking flexibility in allowing academic knowledge to be applied for industrial purposes.
In response, the ministry plans to introduce an evaluation system by a third-party organ of individual graduate courses, effective this academic year, the ministry said.
In addition, new steps will be taken to expand financial assistance programs for young researchers, it said.
The ongoing project, the 21st Century Center of Excellence program designed to provide government subsidies for universities and postgraduate courses if they are officially recognized as doing high-level research, will be replaced by a new one. Priority in recasting the Center of Excellence program either this fiscal year or next will be placed on boosting the quality and international competitiveness of postgraduate education, according to the officials.
The number of students enrolled nationwide in postgraduate courses stood at about 87,000 in 1988. The number jumped to about 254,000 in 2005, the ministry said.
(May. 1, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060501TDY01002.htm
According to the ministry, the program is meant to end the conventional "academic unit system" structure, a hierarchical, apprenticeship-style faculty practice under which a professor bosses around younger researchers.
While the number of students continuing into post-graduate study has rapidly increased in recent years, many graduate schools have been criticized by the business sector and from abroad for poor education levels, officials said Saturday.
Enhancing of the quality of graduate schools is a prerequisite for boosting Japan's international competitiveness in business and technology, the ministry said.
Toward the end of March, the ministry eliminated the academic unit system from the prerequisites for university charters. It also worked out a five-year project called "An Outlook of Measures Necessary for the Promotion of Postgraduate Education."
Under the academic unit system, the head professor in each specialty has a dominant say over assistant professors and other research assistants in his unit regarding personnel affairs and research methods.
Criticism of the apprenticeship-like system has increased among graduate students and other young researchers who say they feel like they are treated as low-paid employees of professors.
The ministry quoted some young researchers complaining that their head professors had monopolized decisions on the content of their research and that they are made to do odd jobs for the professors.
Following the ministry's decision to abolish the system, universities from this academic year have been allowed to create new education-research systems.
Effective from next academic year, the post of assistant professor will be abolished and replaced by the new post of associate professor. Associate professors will be capable of exercising discretion in educating students and undertaking research activities, the officials said.
They said the time has come to revamp the conventional faculty system under which graduate students and other young researchers are supposed to acquire expert knowledge by being assistants to senior professors.
The business community also has criticized the system for lacking flexibility in allowing academic knowledge to be applied for industrial purposes.
In response, the ministry plans to introduce an evaluation system by a third-party organ of individual graduate courses, effective this academic year, the ministry said.
In addition, new steps will be taken to expand financial assistance programs for young researchers, it said.
The ongoing project, the 21st Century Center of Excellence program designed to provide government subsidies for universities and postgraduate courses if they are officially recognized as doing high-level research, will be replaced by a new one. Priority in recasting the Center of Excellence program either this fiscal year or next will be placed on boosting the quality and international competitiveness of postgraduate education, according to the officials.
The number of students enrolled nationwide in postgraduate courses stood at about 87,000 in 1988. The number jumped to about 254,000 in 2005, the ministry said.
(May. 1, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060501TDY01002.htm
Japan firms, universities to cooperate to nurture software engineers - report
TOKYO (AFX) - Japan's business and academic communities are set to cooperate in a project to fill the shortage of software engineers and boost the global competitiveness of Japan's manufacturing and service industries, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing sources close to the matter.
Among the participants are universities nationwide, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and 14 major information technology-related companies, the newspaper said.
Under the scheme, the nation's largest business lobby will encourage universities to set up graduate courses dedicated to the training of software engineers.
Corporate participants, including Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC Corp, IBM Japan Ltd, NTT Data Corp and NS Solutions Corp, will provide engineers to serve as full-time and part-time lecturers, it said.
Toyota Motor Corp and Sony Corp will do the same in an effort to strengthen the country's ability to develop software that can be incorporated into automobiles, household appliances and other products, the report said.
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=5628655&subject=economic&action=article
Among the participants are universities nationwide, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and 14 major information technology-related companies, the newspaper said.
Under the scheme, the nation's largest business lobby will encourage universities to set up graduate courses dedicated to the training of software engineers.
Corporate participants, including Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC Corp, IBM Japan Ltd, NTT Data Corp and NS Solutions Corp, will provide engineers to serve as full-time and part-time lecturers, it said.
Toyota Motor Corp and Sony Corp will do the same in an effort to strengthen the country's ability to develop software that can be incorporated into automobiles, household appliances and other products, the report said.
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=5628655&subject=economic&action=article
Universities relocate in chase for students
As competition among universities and colleges for student enrollment intensifies, many schools are shifting away from campuses in suburban areas to convenient locations near the heart of big cities.
In one such move, a number of universities, mostly private, are vying to purchase the former site of the state-run National Police Academy in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, since its relocation to Fuchu, western Tokyo.
The 13-hectare former site of the academy is believed to be the final plot of land remaining in the 23-ward area of the capital for large-scale redevelopment.
Nakano Ward decided in 2005 to invite a university to occupy 4.4 hectares of the central government-owned land. Like many businesses seeking large plots of land in central Tokyo for development, an increasing number of universities and colleges are keen to buy tracts of state-owned land in Tokyo that the government plans to sell.
Wards are often keen to let universities locate in the hope of upgrading the image of their community, with a university as the centerpiece. Unlike building projects such as factories and condominiums, there are rarely objections by local residents against university construction plans.
A Nakano Ward official explained that the ward has few universities, so it wants to invite a university to the former site of the police academy to help reinvigorate the area. If a university is located there, it will boost the number of young people in the area, thanks to such projects as joint industry-academy study programs and a university lecture series open to the public.
===
Turning back from the suburbs
In the past, universities would have new, extensive campuses built in the suburbs to replace their modest campuses in central Tokyo.
Spearheading this trend was the move of the liberal arts school of Chuo University in 1978 from Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda Ward, to the Tama region on the western outskirts of Tokyo.
There are now more than 60 universities and college campuses in the Tama area.
For students, however, schools located close to the heart of Tokyo are attractive for finding part-time jobs and enjoying their leisure time.
In the eyes of university authorities, central locations are advantageous for attracting company employees wishing to study postgraduate courses after work.
The shift in the past of campuses moving away from central Tokyo to the suburbs has thus been reversed by a "U-turn phenomenon" to the heart of the metropolis. It seems the tendency for students to favor universities located in central Tokyo may be irreversible.
Two universities with old campuses in the vicinity of Chuo University's Kanda-Surugadai--Nihon University and Meiji University--are both having their buildings remodeled into high-rise structures, while purchasing adjacent plots of land for expansion.
University administrators say those schools with campuses in central Tokyo are likely to become more and more popular in an age of declining birthrates.
Chuo University has also adopted a U-turn policy, establishing a postgraduate school in Ichigaya, Shinjuku Ward, in 2000.
Shibaura Institute of Technology opened its new campus in Toyosu, Koto Ward, this spring.
The new campus is more than three times the size of the old campus in Shibaura, Minato Ward, in terms of area as well as floor space. Of its three vacant buildings in Shibaura, the university has sold two, while a new building is planned to be built on the remaining plot.
The university had earlier planned to accept an invitation from the city government of Okaya, Nagano Prefecture, to relocate there, but declined the offer due to difficulties in attracting enough students to a rural location.
Because of its convenient location close to JR Tamachi Station, there have been inquiries from several universities to let them use the planned building as a "satellite" arm, Shibaura Institute of Technology officials said.
Tosei Gakuen, the institute running Showa Academia Musicae, plans to close its campus in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, next April, to move to Kawasaki, following the example of Aoyama Gakuin University, which moved from the same location in 2003, chiefly because of insufficient transportation.
After its move from Atsugi to Kawasaki, the new campus of Showa Academia Musicae can now be reached from Shinjuku in 21 minutes by train, compared with the previous train journey of 46 minutes followed by a 20-minute bus ride.
A school spokesperson said, "Students and staff can now return to the new campus easily after enjoying a concert or other cultural performance in central Tokyo."
Heian Jogakuin (St. Agnes) University, a women's school in the Kansai area, closed its campus in Moriyama, near Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture, in 2005, only five years after opening, due to low student numbers. The campus is now located in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, considerably more convenient than Moriyama.
However, the move was not popular with everyone and a group of students filed a complaint against school authorities over the abolition of the Moriyama campus, arguing that they have been deprived of the right to study at Moriyama.
Against this background of restructuring universities, it seems there may be more cases in which students will be "forced to move" because of the relocation of campuses.
===
Schools moving into metropolis
In addition to those making "U-turns," schools moving into central Tokyo have been increasing.
Teikyo Heisei University, currently located in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, purchased a former primary school site in Toshima Ward in 2004 for 6.5 billion yen, and plans to build a 10-story school building.
Associate Professor Masako Igarashi, played a major role in finding out the site as she obtained information about the sale of the site through frequent visits to the ward office.
"We wanted to secure a plot of land within 10 minutes' walk from a JR Yamanote Line station," Igarashi said.
Prospective students want to attend a school which is convenient to their homes or located in the heart of Tokyo, she said. "Those schools situated elsewhere have trouble securing enough students," she added.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060429TDY04002.htm
In one such move, a number of universities, mostly private, are vying to purchase the former site of the state-run National Police Academy in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, since its relocation to Fuchu, western Tokyo.
The 13-hectare former site of the academy is believed to be the final plot of land remaining in the 23-ward area of the capital for large-scale redevelopment.
Nakano Ward decided in 2005 to invite a university to occupy 4.4 hectares of the central government-owned land. Like many businesses seeking large plots of land in central Tokyo for development, an increasing number of universities and colleges are keen to buy tracts of state-owned land in Tokyo that the government plans to sell.
Wards are often keen to let universities locate in the hope of upgrading the image of their community, with a university as the centerpiece. Unlike building projects such as factories and condominiums, there are rarely objections by local residents against university construction plans.
A Nakano Ward official explained that the ward has few universities, so it wants to invite a university to the former site of the police academy to help reinvigorate the area. If a university is located there, it will boost the number of young people in the area, thanks to such projects as joint industry-academy study programs and a university lecture series open to the public.
===
Turning back from the suburbs
In the past, universities would have new, extensive campuses built in the suburbs to replace their modest campuses in central Tokyo.
Spearheading this trend was the move of the liberal arts school of Chuo University in 1978 from Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda Ward, to the Tama region on the western outskirts of Tokyo.
There are now more than 60 universities and college campuses in the Tama area.
For students, however, schools located close to the heart of Tokyo are attractive for finding part-time jobs and enjoying their leisure time.
In the eyes of university authorities, central locations are advantageous for attracting company employees wishing to study postgraduate courses after work.
The shift in the past of campuses moving away from central Tokyo to the suburbs has thus been reversed by a "U-turn phenomenon" to the heart of the metropolis. It seems the tendency for students to favor universities located in central Tokyo may be irreversible.
Two universities with old campuses in the vicinity of Chuo University's Kanda-Surugadai--Nihon University and Meiji University--are both having their buildings remodeled into high-rise structures, while purchasing adjacent plots of land for expansion.
University administrators say those schools with campuses in central Tokyo are likely to become more and more popular in an age of declining birthrates.
Chuo University has also adopted a U-turn policy, establishing a postgraduate school in Ichigaya, Shinjuku Ward, in 2000.
Shibaura Institute of Technology opened its new campus in Toyosu, Koto Ward, this spring.
The new campus is more than three times the size of the old campus in Shibaura, Minato Ward, in terms of area as well as floor space. Of its three vacant buildings in Shibaura, the university has sold two, while a new building is planned to be built on the remaining plot.
The university had earlier planned to accept an invitation from the city government of Okaya, Nagano Prefecture, to relocate there, but declined the offer due to difficulties in attracting enough students to a rural location.
Because of its convenient location close to JR Tamachi Station, there have been inquiries from several universities to let them use the planned building as a "satellite" arm, Shibaura Institute of Technology officials said.
Tosei Gakuen, the institute running Showa Academia Musicae, plans to close its campus in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, next April, to move to Kawasaki, following the example of Aoyama Gakuin University, which moved from the same location in 2003, chiefly because of insufficient transportation.
After its move from Atsugi to Kawasaki, the new campus of Showa Academia Musicae can now be reached from Shinjuku in 21 minutes by train, compared with the previous train journey of 46 minutes followed by a 20-minute bus ride.
A school spokesperson said, "Students and staff can now return to the new campus easily after enjoying a concert or other cultural performance in central Tokyo."
Heian Jogakuin (St. Agnes) University, a women's school in the Kansai area, closed its campus in Moriyama, near Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture, in 2005, only five years after opening, due to low student numbers. The campus is now located in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, considerably more convenient than Moriyama.
However, the move was not popular with everyone and a group of students filed a complaint against school authorities over the abolition of the Moriyama campus, arguing that they have been deprived of the right to study at Moriyama.
Against this background of restructuring universities, it seems there may be more cases in which students will be "forced to move" because of the relocation of campuses.
===
Schools moving into metropolis
In addition to those making "U-turns," schools moving into central Tokyo have been increasing.
Teikyo Heisei University, currently located in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, purchased a former primary school site in Toshima Ward in 2004 for 6.5 billion yen, and plans to build a 10-story school building.
Associate Professor Masako Igarashi, played a major role in finding out the site as she obtained information about the sale of the site through frequent visits to the ward office.
"We wanted to secure a plot of land within 10 minutes' walk from a JR Yamanote Line station," Igarashi said.
Prospective students want to attend a school which is convenient to their homes or located in the heart of Tokyo, she said. "Those schools situated elsewhere have trouble securing enough students," she added.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060429TDY04002.htm
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