A total of 649,982 foreign workers were employed by 108,760 companies and other establishments in Japan as of the end of last October, up 15.5 percent and 14.1 percent, respectively, from a year earlier, the labor ministry said Monday.
The total included 259,362 workers in the manufacturing sector, up 15.6 percent from the year before, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.
In explaining the rise, the ministry said that Chinese, Brazilian and other workers who were laid off amid the economic downturn are being called back for short-term jobs in the Chukyo area in central Japan, where a large number of manufacturers operate.
By nationality, Chinese workers accounted for 287,105 of the total, followed by 116,363 Brazilians and 61,710 Filipinos.
Tokyo, Aichi and Shizuoka prefectures had the three largest populations of foreign workers at 154,610, 78,723 and 38,802, respectively.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9L39P300&show_article=1
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Universities embrace using mascot character goods
Universities are turning out more and more original products to help boost their brand recognition, the latest trend being so-called character goods featuring school mascots and famous faculty. Their efforts appear to be paying off, with the goods popular among current students and those wanting to enroll in the future .
At Nagoya University in Aichi Prefecture, a university cooperative has sold snacks decorated with the face of Toshihide Masukawa--a Nobel laureate in physics and special professor at the university--since April last year.
The items are Meidai Manju (Nagoya Univ. red bean cakes) priced at 1,050 yen per pack of 12, and Meidai Senbei (Nagoya Univ. rice crackers) at 750 yen for a packet of 18.
Although the university already was selling similar confectioneries bearing its logo, it introduced the new items with Masukawa's face on their surface after gaining his approval.
"Prof. Masukawa was glad and said he hoped students would become great researchers after imbibing his likeness," a co-op official said.
Similarly, a Yamagata University co-op sells Gakucho Senbei (university president rice crackers) with a drawing of the university president on the package.
The co-op first began selling rice crackers adorned with the previous university president's portrait in 2004. They became a big hit, with about 70,000 crackers selling in three years.
When the president changed in 2007, so did the image on the rice cracker packet. A student drew the new portrait and this version is still being sold today.
Co-op officials said students, parents attending enrollment ceremonies and alumni had all bought the crackers.
Meanwhile, at Saga University, unique mugs are sold. They feature the university's mascot, "Katchii-kun" modeled after magpies--locally called "kachigarasu." The university's logo also contains an image of the bird.
Shimane University also uses its mascot, "Bibitto," to sell popular items such as key chains.
Yohokama National University has sold netsuke--traditional Japanese toggles used to hang objects from kimono obi--bearing the likeness of Hello Kitty since 2007. The goods are especially designed for the university.
From later this month, YNU will sell a new Hello Kitty netsuke model carrying a globe bearing the official university logo.
"The netsuke are popular among high school students. They sell well at events such as campus open days," an university co-op official said.
In many cases, these products cannot be found outside university co-op stores. But opportunities in which people unaffiliated with the universities can purchase the goods are increasing.
For about two years, the Tokyo-based major book store chain Kinokuniya Co., has held events named "Gakuichi Gakuza" to promote such items.
Likewise, the Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, has for three years held events called "Daigaku wa Oishii!" (tasty goods from universities) in which food products developed by universities are sold.
The products include wine, jam and tuna farmed by university researchers and students. Last year, about 30 universities across the nation participated in the event. This year's event is planned for June.
Shiki Kurabe, a senior research fellow of Wasedajuku Sohken in Tokyo and an expert on universities' promotion activities, said, "Because of the shrinking youth population, universities are placing more emphasis on public relations.
"Character goods seem to be effective in raising school spirit among current students and are a promotional tool for entrance exam takers," Kurabe said.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110127006054.htm
At Nagoya University in Aichi Prefecture, a university cooperative has sold snacks decorated with the face of Toshihide Masukawa--a Nobel laureate in physics and special professor at the university--since April last year.
The items are Meidai Manju (Nagoya Univ. red bean cakes) priced at 1,050 yen per pack of 12, and Meidai Senbei (Nagoya Univ. rice crackers) at 750 yen for a packet of 18.
Although the university already was selling similar confectioneries bearing its logo, it introduced the new items with Masukawa's face on their surface after gaining his approval.
"Prof. Masukawa was glad and said he hoped students would become great researchers after imbibing his likeness," a co-op official said.
Similarly, a Yamagata University co-op sells Gakucho Senbei (university president rice crackers) with a drawing of the university president on the package.
The co-op first began selling rice crackers adorned with the previous university president's portrait in 2004. They became a big hit, with about 70,000 crackers selling in three years.
When the president changed in 2007, so did the image on the rice cracker packet. A student drew the new portrait and this version is still being sold today.
Co-op officials said students, parents attending enrollment ceremonies and alumni had all bought the crackers.
Meanwhile, at Saga University, unique mugs are sold. They feature the university's mascot, "Katchii-kun" modeled after magpies--locally called "kachigarasu." The university's logo also contains an image of the bird.
Shimane University also uses its mascot, "Bibitto," to sell popular items such as key chains.
Yohokama National University has sold netsuke--traditional Japanese toggles used to hang objects from kimono obi--bearing the likeness of Hello Kitty since 2007. The goods are especially designed for the university.
From later this month, YNU will sell a new Hello Kitty netsuke model carrying a globe bearing the official university logo.
"The netsuke are popular among high school students. They sell well at events such as campus open days," an university co-op official said.
In many cases, these products cannot be found outside university co-op stores. But opportunities in which people unaffiliated with the universities can purchase the goods are increasing.
For about two years, the Tokyo-based major book store chain Kinokuniya Co., has held events named "Gakuichi Gakuza" to promote such items.
Likewise, the Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, has for three years held events called "Daigaku wa Oishii!" (tasty goods from universities) in which food products developed by universities are sold.
The products include wine, jam and tuna farmed by university researchers and students. Last year, about 30 universities across the nation participated in the event. This year's event is planned for June.
Shiki Kurabe, a senior research fellow of Wasedajuku Sohken in Tokyo and an expert on universities' promotion activities, said, "Because of the shrinking youth population, universities are placing more emphasis on public relations.
"Character goods seem to be effective in raising school spirit among current students and are a promotional tool for entrance exam takers," Kurabe said.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110127006054.htm
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Universities in U.S. giving up on Japan / Japanese kids would rather stay home
NEW YORK--More and more U.S. universities are apparently giving up on Japan as a target for recruiting students, as a survey showed that the number of U.S. universities taking part in publicity events in Japan has sharply dropped in recent years.
In the wake of a significant decrease in the number of Japanese students studying in the United States, the institutions are shifting their targets to other Asian countries, such as China.
Such a trend could affect Japan-U.S. relations in the future, observers said.
Japanese students used to be the largest group among foreign students at U.S. universities. But their number is now far below that of Chinese students.
Japan ranked sixth in terms of the number of foreign students studying at U.S. universities in the 2009-10 academic year.
Experts say the decrease reflects the inward-looking attitude of current Japanese students, a growing number of whom have no interest in studying overseas.
The Institute of International Education, a U.S. nonprofit organization that has promoted international exchange programs for study and training since 1919, has held study abroad fairs in Japan every year since 1991.
Reflecting the decreasing number of Japanese students who study in the United States, the number of U.S. universities participating in the fair dropped to 21 in 2010, one-fifth of the 106 that participated in 2006.
The decline is all the more conspicuous as the number of U.S. universities participating in similar fairs held in China, India and Vietnam during the same period has held steady.
IIE is an authority on international education exchange in the United States. It works closely with the Japan-U.S. Educational Commission, which manages the Fulbright grant program.
Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president and chief operating officer of IIE, worries about the decline in the number of Japanese students in the United States, saying that when she looks 10 or 20 years ahead, she sees it as an extremely serious situation in terms of the U.S.-Japan relationship.
Blumenthal's opinion stems from the fact that a number of Japanese who had studied in the United States after World War II later became leaders in various fields in their home country.
Even so, she said IIE is considering not holding the fair in Japan any longer as it is unable to halt the decline in the number of U.S. universities that participate.
Linden Educational Services, an educational consulting company based in Washington, D.C., that supports U.S. universities in recruiting foreign students, used to send 35 to 40 people from U.S. universities to Japan every year. However, it has dropped Japan from their itineraries since 2009, according to the company.
The University of Denver in Colorado stopped participating in the fair in Japan in 2008. Marjorie Smith, associate dean of international admissions, said it was useless to send representatives to Japan as students here were not interested. She wondered why this was happening in spite of the strong yen that makes it less expensive for Japanese to study abroad.
Japanese students were the largest foreign student group at U.S. universities for four consecutive years from the 1994-95 academic year. Their numbers peaked at 47,073 in the 1997-98 school year and remained flat in subsequent years. But since the 2005-06 academic year, the number has dropped for five consecutive years.
In the 2008-09 period, the number decreased by 13.9 percent from the previous year, and in 2009-10, it dropped by 15.1 percent from the previous year.
In 2009-10, the number of Japanese students in the United States stood at 24,842.
One major factor behind the decrease is that it has become easier for students to enter Japanese universities due to the nation's chronically low birthrate. Students also consider studying abroad to be disadvantageous in terms of job hunting, which usually begins in earnest during their junior year.
(Jan. 9, 2011)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110108003158.htm
In the wake of a significant decrease in the number of Japanese students studying in the United States, the institutions are shifting their targets to other Asian countries, such as China.
Such a trend could affect Japan-U.S. relations in the future, observers said.
Japanese students used to be the largest group among foreign students at U.S. universities. But their number is now far below that of Chinese students.
Japan ranked sixth in terms of the number of foreign students studying at U.S. universities in the 2009-10 academic year.
Experts say the decrease reflects the inward-looking attitude of current Japanese students, a growing number of whom have no interest in studying overseas.
The Institute of International Education, a U.S. nonprofit organization that has promoted international exchange programs for study and training since 1919, has held study abroad fairs in Japan every year since 1991.
Reflecting the decreasing number of Japanese students who study in the United States, the number of U.S. universities participating in the fair dropped to 21 in 2010, one-fifth of the 106 that participated in 2006.
The decline is all the more conspicuous as the number of U.S. universities participating in similar fairs held in China, India and Vietnam during the same period has held steady.
IIE is an authority on international education exchange in the United States. It works closely with the Japan-U.S. Educational Commission, which manages the Fulbright grant program.
Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president and chief operating officer of IIE, worries about the decline in the number of Japanese students in the United States, saying that when she looks 10 or 20 years ahead, she sees it as an extremely serious situation in terms of the U.S.-Japan relationship.
Blumenthal's opinion stems from the fact that a number of Japanese who had studied in the United States after World War II later became leaders in various fields in their home country.
Even so, she said IIE is considering not holding the fair in Japan any longer as it is unable to halt the decline in the number of U.S. universities that participate.
Linden Educational Services, an educational consulting company based in Washington, D.C., that supports U.S. universities in recruiting foreign students, used to send 35 to 40 people from U.S. universities to Japan every year. However, it has dropped Japan from their itineraries since 2009, according to the company.
The University of Denver in Colorado stopped participating in the fair in Japan in 2008. Marjorie Smith, associate dean of international admissions, said it was useless to send representatives to Japan as students here were not interested. She wondered why this was happening in spite of the strong yen that makes it less expensive for Japanese to study abroad.
Japanese students were the largest foreign student group at U.S. universities for four consecutive years from the 1994-95 academic year. Their numbers peaked at 47,073 in the 1997-98 school year and remained flat in subsequent years. But since the 2005-06 academic year, the number has dropped for five consecutive years.
In the 2008-09 period, the number decreased by 13.9 percent from the previous year, and in 2009-10, it dropped by 15.1 percent from the previous year.
In 2009-10, the number of Japanese students in the United States stood at 24,842.
One major factor behind the decrease is that it has become easier for students to enter Japanese universities due to the nation's chronically low birthrate. Students also consider studying abroad to be disadvantageous in terms of job hunting, which usually begins in earnest during their junior year.
(Jan. 9, 2011)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110108003158.htm
More Students Choose Universities in Japan
More students than ever are choosing universities in Japan for study abroad, and the number of Japanese students leaving the country to study has fallen markedly since a peak in 2004, according to two reports released at the end of December.
The Japan Student Services Organization , an independent institution, reported that the number of foreign students studying in Japan reached record highs of 141,774 in 2010, up 6.8 percent from the previous year.
That report also showed that just over 11,000 of the international students were “short term,” meaning they were in Japan “not necessarily to obtain a degree but rather to study at Japanese university, to experience a different culture, or to master the Japanese language.”
Meanwhile, data released by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology indicate that the number of Japanese students studying abroad has been declining since a peak of 82,945 in 2004. In the most recent figures, from 2008, the number of students was under 67,000, down 11 percent from the previous year.
Yukari Kato, executive vice president of Ryugaku Journal, which provides information about overseas study, told The Yomiuri Shimbun that many students were afraid of being left behind in Japan’s competitive job market.
Ms. Kato said she also viewed the slowing birthrate and an introspective mind-set among students as possible contributing factors.
— LOUISE LOFTUS
Use of Twitter is linked to higher grades, study finds
According to a new study published in The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Twitter can bolster student engagement and grade-point average.
The study followed 125 pre-health majors at a midsize public university. Those using Twitter, says Rey Junco of Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, the lead author, had an average G.P.A. half a point higher than their counterparts in a non-tweeting control group. They also more frequently participated in class, sought out professors and discussed course material outside of class.
Twitter was used for discussions, questioning professors in and out of class, receiving feedback and reminders, and reviewing course concepts reduced to terse fundamentals, all via laptop or cellphone.
Students seemed to find the medium a less intimidating way to express themselves in large lecture halls. “Twitter was a useful, low-stress way to ask questions,” Mr. Junco said.
As one student wrote on Twitter: “One of my favorite parts of the day is when I’m sitting in Bio lecture and a tweet has been sent out through the class account and everybody looks at their phone.”
— BY REBECCA R. RUIZ
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/world/asia/10iht-educBriefs10.html?_r=1
The Japan Student Services Organization , an independent institution, reported that the number of foreign students studying in Japan reached record highs of 141,774 in 2010, up 6.8 percent from the previous year.
That report also showed that just over 11,000 of the international students were “short term,” meaning they were in Japan “not necessarily to obtain a degree but rather to study at Japanese university, to experience a different culture, or to master the Japanese language.”
Meanwhile, data released by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology indicate that the number of Japanese students studying abroad has been declining since a peak of 82,945 in 2004. In the most recent figures, from 2008, the number of students was under 67,000, down 11 percent from the previous year.
Yukari Kato, executive vice president of Ryugaku Journal, which provides information about overseas study, told The Yomiuri Shimbun that many students were afraid of being left behind in Japan’s competitive job market.
Ms. Kato said she also viewed the slowing birthrate and an introspective mind-set among students as possible contributing factors.
— LOUISE LOFTUS
Use of Twitter is linked to higher grades, study finds
According to a new study published in The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Twitter can bolster student engagement and grade-point average.
The study followed 125 pre-health majors at a midsize public university. Those using Twitter, says Rey Junco of Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, the lead author, had an average G.P.A. half a point higher than their counterparts in a non-tweeting control group. They also more frequently participated in class, sought out professors and discussed course material outside of class.
Twitter was used for discussions, questioning professors in and out of class, receiving feedback and reminders, and reviewing course concepts reduced to terse fundamentals, all via laptop or cellphone.
Students seemed to find the medium a less intimidating way to express themselves in large lecture halls. “Twitter was a useful, low-stress way to ask questions,” Mr. Junco said.
As one student wrote on Twitter: “One of my favorite parts of the day is when I’m sitting in Bio lecture and a tweet has been sent out through the class account and everybody looks at their phone.”
— BY REBECCA R. RUIZ
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/world/asia/10iht-educBriefs10.html?_r=1
Universities risk data breach / Privatized IT systems put e-mail beyond protection of Japanese law
About 10 percent of universities in the nation use cloud computing services, which Google Inc. and other companies provide free of charge, to run their internal e-mail systems, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.
In the survey of major universities nationwide, 14 state- and local government-run universities and 64 private universities said they had wholly or partially consigned management and maintenance of their internal e-mail systems to cloud computing providers.
This figure accounts for about 10 percent of the nearly 800 universities in the nation.
The trend raises concerns about information security, because in many cases the servers managing the universities' e-mail data are located in other countries, beyond the protection of Japanese law.
Cloud computing allows users to store and process data on the Internet, thus sparing the expense of buying and maintaining their own hardware and software. The provider companies benefit by having the chance to expose users to their products.
Nihon University was the first to adopt cloud computing in 2007, using services provided by Google. Since then, adoption among universities has been increasing rapidly.
Upon introduction of such a system, teaching staff, administrative staff, students and alumni are assigned e-mail addresses and allowed access to schedule-management and file-sharing programs.
The new e-mail addresses use the same domain name as the university's previous system, so outsiders are given no indication that the e-mail system is now being operated by a private company.
Google's Google Apps service is the most widely used by the nation's universities, the survey found, with 48 institutions, including Nihon University and Hitotsubashi University, having adopted it.
A competing service provided by Yahoo! Inc. is used by 22 universities, including the University of Tokyo, and Microsoft Corp.'s service is used by 10, according to the survey.
Two universities use the services of multiple companies, the survey found.
Cloud computing is also used by many university hospitals, including Kyoto University Hospital, which began using Google Apps in 2009.
However, having servers located overseas puts information security at risk, according to some cloud computing critics.
For example, if information is illegally accessed from an overseas server, Japanese law would not apply.
In the United States, the law allows investigators to access data in cloud computing servers without a warrant if authorities deem there is a risk of a terrorist act or other serious crime.
It is possible therefore that U.S. investigators could in such a case read e-mails containing personal information of cloud computing users.
The universities surveyed said the physical location of cloud computing servers was up to the provider companies.
Google and Microsoft have not revealed in which country the servers used to store the universities' data are located.
Hisamichi Okamura, a lawyer who specializes in telecommunications and information technology, asked, "Is it really OK that important information about people involved in universities--who can be said to be Japan's brightest brains--is stored in places where Japanese law can't protect it?"
He added: "European Union countries and some provinces of Canada impose strict regulations on how cloud computing systems store personal information. The Japanese government should consider how it will respond if a [data security] problem occurs."
(Jan. 18, 2011)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110117003565.htm
In the survey of major universities nationwide, 14 state- and local government-run universities and 64 private universities said they had wholly or partially consigned management and maintenance of their internal e-mail systems to cloud computing providers.
This figure accounts for about 10 percent of the nearly 800 universities in the nation.
The trend raises concerns about information security, because in many cases the servers managing the universities' e-mail data are located in other countries, beyond the protection of Japanese law.
Cloud computing allows users to store and process data on the Internet, thus sparing the expense of buying and maintaining their own hardware and software. The provider companies benefit by having the chance to expose users to their products.
Nihon University was the first to adopt cloud computing in 2007, using services provided by Google. Since then, adoption among universities has been increasing rapidly.
Upon introduction of such a system, teaching staff, administrative staff, students and alumni are assigned e-mail addresses and allowed access to schedule-management and file-sharing programs.
The new e-mail addresses use the same domain name as the university's previous system, so outsiders are given no indication that the e-mail system is now being operated by a private company.
Google's Google Apps service is the most widely used by the nation's universities, the survey found, with 48 institutions, including Nihon University and Hitotsubashi University, having adopted it.
A competing service provided by Yahoo! Inc. is used by 22 universities, including the University of Tokyo, and Microsoft Corp.'s service is used by 10, according to the survey.
Two universities use the services of multiple companies, the survey found.
Cloud computing is also used by many university hospitals, including Kyoto University Hospital, which began using Google Apps in 2009.
However, having servers located overseas puts information security at risk, according to some cloud computing critics.
For example, if information is illegally accessed from an overseas server, Japanese law would not apply.
In the United States, the law allows investigators to access data in cloud computing servers without a warrant if authorities deem there is a risk of a terrorist act or other serious crime.
It is possible therefore that U.S. investigators could in such a case read e-mails containing personal information of cloud computing users.
The universities surveyed said the physical location of cloud computing servers was up to the provider companies.
Google and Microsoft have not revealed in which country the servers used to store the universities' data are located.
Hisamichi Okamura, a lawyer who specializes in telecommunications and information technology, asked, "Is it really OK that important information about people involved in universities--who can be said to be Japan's brightest brains--is stored in places where Japanese law can't protect it?"
He added: "European Union countries and some provinces of Canada impose strict regulations on how cloud computing systems store personal information. The Japanese government should consider how it will respond if a [data security] problem occurs."
(Jan. 18, 2011)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110117003565.htm
Monday, January 10, 2011
Language teachers to go to U.S. for exchanges
Japan will beef up people-to-people exchanges with the United States this year by dispatching young teachers of the Japanese language and English to the country, government officials said Friday.
Tokyo will launch new programs to send those teachers in the fiscal year starting in April amid concerns that bilateral ties could weaken with declines in the number of Japanese students enrolled at U.S. universities and cuts in the Japanese budget for a project to invite American and other foreign university graduates to teach English at Japanese schools.
The government has earmarked ¥500 million in the fiscal 2011 budget to send 100 Japanese teachers of the English language aged 40 or younger to U.S. universities to learn English teaching methods for six months, the officials said.
The government-linked Japan Foundation, which offers training programs for Japanese language teachers abroad, will newly start Japanese language courses for the general public in Los Angeles and New York. Young Japanese teachers will be sent to those cities to teach a few thousand students annually.
The teacher dispatch program is in line with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's pledge last November in his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama to effect bilateral exchanges of several thousand people over five years.
Kan's initiative also includes sending young Japanese researchers to the United States, inviting U.S. Asian study experts to Japan and promoting short visits to Japan by American students.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110108a2.html
Tokyo will launch new programs to send those teachers in the fiscal year starting in April amid concerns that bilateral ties could weaken with declines in the number of Japanese students enrolled at U.S. universities and cuts in the Japanese budget for a project to invite American and other foreign university graduates to teach English at Japanese schools.
The government has earmarked ¥500 million in the fiscal 2011 budget to send 100 Japanese teachers of the English language aged 40 or younger to U.S. universities to learn English teaching methods for six months, the officials said.
The government-linked Japan Foundation, which offers training programs for Japanese language teachers abroad, will newly start Japanese language courses for the general public in Los Angeles and New York. Young Japanese teachers will be sent to those cities to teach a few thousand students annually.
The teacher dispatch program is in line with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's pledge last November in his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama to effect bilateral exchanges of several thousand people over five years.
Kan's initiative also includes sending young Japanese researchers to the United States, inviting U.S. Asian study experts to Japan and promoting short visits to Japan by American students.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110108a2.html
Japan far behind in global language of business
Keiko Suezaki in October began sending her 7-year-old daughter to an English school in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, once a week, hoping to give her more exposure to the de facto international language.
Although her daughter, Rina, has a 45-minute English activity class at her elementary school once every two weeks, Suezaki didn't think it was enough.
"If you live in Europe, or maybe in India, you become conscious of the necessity of learning English, but it's different in Japan. So I just want my daughter to know that there is an important language called English and it's fun (to learn)," said Suezaki, a 38-year-old Tokyo resident. "Besides, I think there will be more chances to use English in business situations (in the future). When such a time comes, it's better if one can use English."
With the economy expected to shrink due to the low birthrate, Japan has no choice but to seek markets outside the country, which will mean working more with non-Japanese, experts say.
For a country without much in the way of natural resources, manpower will be key to future survival. Japan, however, appears to be falling behind its neighbors in nurturing personnel who can compete in a globalizing world.
According to an education ministry report released in December, the number of Japanese heading overseas to study fell in every one of the four years to 2008, dropping from 82,945 in 2004 to 66,833 in that period.
The decline is especially sharp in the number of Japanese studying in the United States, falling from 46,497 in 2000 to 24,842 in 2009, according to data from the Institute of International Education.
By contrast, Chinese students in the U.S. more than doubled from 59,939 in 2000 to 127,628 in 2009. As for South Korean students, the number grew from 45,685 in 2000 to 72,153 in 2009.
"While Japan has shifted from the phase of heated educational competition to a calmer, post-high-growth period, other East Asian nations' interest in education has been escalating," said Mariko Abumiya, a senior researcher at the National Institute for Educational Policy Research who specializes in China's education policy.
Reflecting the trend toward globalization, both China and South Korea are pouring huge efforts into fostering global human resources, especially in English-language education.
"China and South Korea are more aware of the importance and usefulness of English (as a tool) to present their countries to the world. But Japan's awareness of that is low," said Nobuyuki Honna, a professor emeritus at Aoyama Gakuin University.
The nation, after long debate, will introduce "foreign-language activity" once a week in the curriculum for fifth- and sixth-graders in fiscal 2011, taking up a total of 35 periods a year. South Korea, on the other hand, made English classes compulsory from the third grade in 1997. China did the same in 2001.
"In China, English is taught about four hours a week starting with the third grade," Honna said. "In the case of Shanghai, English is taught five or six hours a week, in many cases from the first grade. That means they study English for about 1,000 hours in total before graduating from elementary school."
Honna explained that in China's eastern cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, where the education standard is high, English was taught in elementary schools years before it became official policy in 2001.
The situation is even more intense in South Korea, especially after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis that forced the country to seek help from the International Monetary Fund.
Taking the crisis to heart, many parents today are eager to get as much English education for their offspring as possible because their future depends not only on the name of the school from which they graduate but also on their English ability, experts say.
"Not only the leading companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., but also small and medium-size companies give prospective employees English exams," said Ito Kutsuzawa, manager of the Benesse Educational Research and Development Center. "Leading companies set the bar high for English ability. And there is a huge gap in salaries between the nation's leading companies and the group ranked in the second tier."
However, the hunger for English has created problems for schools.
"Some Japanese elementary schools are reportedly struggling with classroom disruptions by misbehaving students. But in South Korea, some schools are facing classroom dysfunction because many — sometimes about half the members of a class — take a month off to go abroad to study English," said Kim Tae Hoon, an associate professor of education at Seisa University in Hokkaido.
According to a report in The Korea Times, the number of elementary school children studying abroad rose to 8,298 in 2007 from 2,453 in 2005.
Many mothers and their children move to nations where English is the native language, including Canada and the U.S., so their children will gain fluency in the language, while their fathers stay in South Korea, working hard to earn money to support this pursuit, according to Kim.
Backed by this kind of fervor, South Koreans' overall English ability is getting better, experts say.
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is one yardstick.
The average score for South Koreans jumped to 619 in 2009 from 561 in 1995, while Japanese marked an improvement of just 581 in 2009 from 572 in 1995, according to the Institute for International Business Communication.
The number of South Koreans taking the TOEIC surged to 2.05 million in 2009 from 421,704 in 1995, while Japanese takers increased to 1.68 million in 2009 from 565,000 in 1995.
Meanwhile, in Japan, with the government's clear change in direction from its much criticized "yutori" (relaxed) education policy introduced in the 1970s, English education is expected to improve.
Apart from the official kickoff of "foreign-language activities" at elementary schools in April, the volume of vocabulary to be taught as well as hours spent in English class in junior high and high school will increase over the next couple of years.
For example, the vocabulary list for the junior high level will leap from the current 900 words to 1,200 starting in fiscal 2012 and English classes will increase from the current three a week to four, the education ministry said.
At elementary schools, textbooks will increase in size by about 24.5 percent on average from fiscal 2011.
The government has been making changes to boost children's academic levels, especially after 2003's disappointing results in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international standardized test conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development every three years since 2000.
In the 2003 testing, conducted among 15-year-old children in 41 countries and regions, Japan's ranking in two of three subjects had dropped more than four places.
After putting in the effort to strengthen literacy, including introducing book-reading time in the morning, the latest 2009 PISA results showed improvement in Japanese students' performance.
Although the data can't simply be compared with previous PISA data because of differences in the number of participating countries, Japan's ranking in reading comprehension rose from 15th place in 2006 to eighth in 2009.
In science literacy, it moved from sixth in 2006 to fifth in 2009, while math literacy improved to ninth in 2009, up from 10th place three years earlier.
Although Japan's rankings are low when compared with other parts of East Asia, including first-time participant Shanghai, which stunned many by dominating the top in all three tests, Japan's academic ability is first-class, said Hiroaki Mimizuka, vice president of Ochanomizu University.
"When looking at the size of participating countries and regions, Japan is the only country in the top 10 with a population of more than 100 hundred million," Mimizuka said. "It depends on how you look at the results, but it can be said that it's possible to force a country with a (population equivalent to that) of Tokyo (to raise its academic level) with a top-down method. But for a country with more than 100 hundred million people, it's difficult to effect change with that approach.
"As such, we shouldn't mimic other countries in setting the nation's educational policy. We should seek our own way to achieve high academic ability."
The biggest hurdle facing Japanese youth today is low aspirations, experts say.
Growing up in a relatively wealthy country with little competitive pressure due to the low fertility rate, many Japanese youth tend to think things will somehow work out and don't push themselves much, Mimizuka said.
As shown in the falling interest in studying abroad, regardless of universities' attempts to send more students overseas, many choose to stay in their comfort zones, experts say.
"There are limits to how much educational content and policy can change. . . . Other social sectors, including education, need to put in the effort and think about what they should do for Japan to survive as well as for the world to flourish," Mimizuka said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110106f1.html
Although her daughter, Rina, has a 45-minute English activity class at her elementary school once every two weeks, Suezaki didn't think it was enough.
"If you live in Europe, or maybe in India, you become conscious of the necessity of learning English, but it's different in Japan. So I just want my daughter to know that there is an important language called English and it's fun (to learn)," said Suezaki, a 38-year-old Tokyo resident. "Besides, I think there will be more chances to use English in business situations (in the future). When such a time comes, it's better if one can use English."
With the economy expected to shrink due to the low birthrate, Japan has no choice but to seek markets outside the country, which will mean working more with non-Japanese, experts say.
For a country without much in the way of natural resources, manpower will be key to future survival. Japan, however, appears to be falling behind its neighbors in nurturing personnel who can compete in a globalizing world.
According to an education ministry report released in December, the number of Japanese heading overseas to study fell in every one of the four years to 2008, dropping from 82,945 in 2004 to 66,833 in that period.
The decline is especially sharp in the number of Japanese studying in the United States, falling from 46,497 in 2000 to 24,842 in 2009, according to data from the Institute of International Education.
By contrast, Chinese students in the U.S. more than doubled from 59,939 in 2000 to 127,628 in 2009. As for South Korean students, the number grew from 45,685 in 2000 to 72,153 in 2009.
"While Japan has shifted from the phase of heated educational competition to a calmer, post-high-growth period, other East Asian nations' interest in education has been escalating," said Mariko Abumiya, a senior researcher at the National Institute for Educational Policy Research who specializes in China's education policy.
Reflecting the trend toward globalization, both China and South Korea are pouring huge efforts into fostering global human resources, especially in English-language education.
"China and South Korea are more aware of the importance and usefulness of English (as a tool) to present their countries to the world. But Japan's awareness of that is low," said Nobuyuki Honna, a professor emeritus at Aoyama Gakuin University.
The nation, after long debate, will introduce "foreign-language activity" once a week in the curriculum for fifth- and sixth-graders in fiscal 2011, taking up a total of 35 periods a year. South Korea, on the other hand, made English classes compulsory from the third grade in 1997. China did the same in 2001.
"In China, English is taught about four hours a week starting with the third grade," Honna said. "In the case of Shanghai, English is taught five or six hours a week, in many cases from the first grade. That means they study English for about 1,000 hours in total before graduating from elementary school."
Honna explained that in China's eastern cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, where the education standard is high, English was taught in elementary schools years before it became official policy in 2001.
The situation is even more intense in South Korea, especially after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis that forced the country to seek help from the International Monetary Fund.
Taking the crisis to heart, many parents today are eager to get as much English education for their offspring as possible because their future depends not only on the name of the school from which they graduate but also on their English ability, experts say.
"Not only the leading companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., but also small and medium-size companies give prospective employees English exams," said Ito Kutsuzawa, manager of the Benesse Educational Research and Development Center. "Leading companies set the bar high for English ability. And there is a huge gap in salaries between the nation's leading companies and the group ranked in the second tier."
However, the hunger for English has created problems for schools.
"Some Japanese elementary schools are reportedly struggling with classroom disruptions by misbehaving students. But in South Korea, some schools are facing classroom dysfunction because many — sometimes about half the members of a class — take a month off to go abroad to study English," said Kim Tae Hoon, an associate professor of education at Seisa University in Hokkaido.
According to a report in The Korea Times, the number of elementary school children studying abroad rose to 8,298 in 2007 from 2,453 in 2005.
Many mothers and their children move to nations where English is the native language, including Canada and the U.S., so their children will gain fluency in the language, while their fathers stay in South Korea, working hard to earn money to support this pursuit, according to Kim.
Backed by this kind of fervor, South Koreans' overall English ability is getting better, experts say.
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is one yardstick.
The average score for South Koreans jumped to 619 in 2009 from 561 in 1995, while Japanese marked an improvement of just 581 in 2009 from 572 in 1995, according to the Institute for International Business Communication.
The number of South Koreans taking the TOEIC surged to 2.05 million in 2009 from 421,704 in 1995, while Japanese takers increased to 1.68 million in 2009 from 565,000 in 1995.
Meanwhile, in Japan, with the government's clear change in direction from its much criticized "yutori" (relaxed) education policy introduced in the 1970s, English education is expected to improve.
Apart from the official kickoff of "foreign-language activities" at elementary schools in April, the volume of vocabulary to be taught as well as hours spent in English class in junior high and high school will increase over the next couple of years.
For example, the vocabulary list for the junior high level will leap from the current 900 words to 1,200 starting in fiscal 2012 and English classes will increase from the current three a week to four, the education ministry said.
At elementary schools, textbooks will increase in size by about 24.5 percent on average from fiscal 2011.
The government has been making changes to boost children's academic levels, especially after 2003's disappointing results in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international standardized test conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development every three years since 2000.
In the 2003 testing, conducted among 15-year-old children in 41 countries and regions, Japan's ranking in two of three subjects had dropped more than four places.
After putting in the effort to strengthen literacy, including introducing book-reading time in the morning, the latest 2009 PISA results showed improvement in Japanese students' performance.
Although the data can't simply be compared with previous PISA data because of differences in the number of participating countries, Japan's ranking in reading comprehension rose from 15th place in 2006 to eighth in 2009.
In science literacy, it moved from sixth in 2006 to fifth in 2009, while math literacy improved to ninth in 2009, up from 10th place three years earlier.
Although Japan's rankings are low when compared with other parts of East Asia, including first-time participant Shanghai, which stunned many by dominating the top in all three tests, Japan's academic ability is first-class, said Hiroaki Mimizuka, vice president of Ochanomizu University.
"When looking at the size of participating countries and regions, Japan is the only country in the top 10 with a population of more than 100 hundred million," Mimizuka said. "It depends on how you look at the results, but it can be said that it's possible to force a country with a (population equivalent to that) of Tokyo (to raise its academic level) with a top-down method. But for a country with more than 100 hundred million people, it's difficult to effect change with that approach.
"As such, we shouldn't mimic other countries in setting the nation's educational policy. We should seek our own way to achieve high academic ability."
The biggest hurdle facing Japanese youth today is low aspirations, experts say.
Growing up in a relatively wealthy country with little competitive pressure due to the low fertility rate, many Japanese youth tend to think things will somehow work out and don't push themselves much, Mimizuka said.
As shown in the falling interest in studying abroad, regardless of universities' attempts to send more students overseas, many choose to stay in their comfort zones, experts say.
"There are limits to how much educational content and policy can change. . . . Other social sectors, including education, need to put in the effort and think about what they should do for Japan to survive as well as for the world to flourish," Mimizuka said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110106f1.html
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Japanese Universities Draw Foreign Students With Manga
TOKYO — When Zack Wood produces his illustrated stories online, his Japanese classmates say they look like American comics while his American friends say they look decidedly like manga, the popular form of comics that originated in Japan.
Zack Wood, a Stanford graduate, enrolled at Kyoto Seika University in Japan to study manga, the popular comic form.
That is precisely the blend Mr. Wood, who grew up in the United States and is now studying at Kyoto Seika University’s manga program, is angling for.
Mr. Wood, a 25-year-old graduate of Stanford University in California, and students like him have gravitated toward the modern Japanese arts, feeling they may help them advance their careers in animation, design, computer graphics and the business of promoting them.
And as Japanese universities work harder to attract students to fill their classrooms while the country’s birth rate declines, more are offering degrees in manga and animation.
“I like it here because you get totally immersed in the skill training” of manga and animation, Mr. Wood said. “It has turned out to be a lot of fun.”
Once they are armed with unique technical and industry knowledge, many international students are eager to gain work experience here upon graduation before heading back home.
Li Lin Lin, 28, a student from northeastern China who attends Digital Hollywood University, a school in Tokyo that specializes in animation and video games, said that upon finishing her degree, it would probably be “easy” to find a job in the animation field in China. The real trophy, she said, was getting job experience in the country of manga. Ms. Li is especially interested in working for a Japanese animation studio.
“I think you can do almost anything back home once you get a degree and animation working experiences in Japan,” said Ms. Li, emerging from her class on digital animation coloring one Saturday afternoon.
Hidenori Ohyama, senior director of corporate strategy at Toei Animation, said it was possible that international students could end up at Japanese companies like his. “If they apply, take our tests and pass, they will become employees just like anyone else,” he said.
His company, a leading animation company that has produced “Dragonball” and “Slam Dunk” films, has Romanian and Korean producers, among other foreign citizens, Mr. Ohyama said.
None of the animation-themed Japanese university programs seem to be on the international radar yet, said Kison Chang, a training manager at Imagi Studios, an international animation production studio based in Hong Kong.
But he said students studying in Japan who ended up with solid work experiences at Japanese studios could be prime candidates for international recruitment.
“They would certainly be a great benefit to our professional line,” he said. “They might bring in some kind of spirit which we may not know, or something we didn’t realize that would be a benefit to us,” he said.
Such individuals are not yet on his teams, nor at any of his rivals, he said.
Another possible reason that the programs have not received international attention is that the language of instruction is Japanese.
Tomoyuki Sugiyama, president of Digital Hollywood University, conceded that language might be a serious barrier, especially for Western students.
“If we had an English-based program at the graduate level, for example, we would be inundated with Western students almost instantly,” he said.
Nevertheless, at Kyoto Seika University, which established the country’s first manga program, the number of foreign students in it has risen to 57 currently out of a total of 800 students in the program from just 19 in 2000.
Since it was founded in 2005, Digital Hollywood University has seen its international students grow to 84 this year, roughly 20 percent of its student body, from just one when the school began.
“I want to see it grow to 50 percent of the entire students in the very near future,” Mr. Sugiyama said.
In the past 10 years, more than a dozen university departments and programs have been created to offer a degree or a cluster of courses meant as a concentration in manga, animation and video games, and a similar number of vocational schools offer training in the art.
At Digital Hollywood, with campus buildings spread across the Akihabara area in Tokyo, the nation’s capital for otaku, or nerds, students from Korea, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and other Asian countries, who constitute the bulk of the international student body, mingle with Japanese students.
The curriculum at the schools usually includes courses on drawing, coloring, and motion picture production, as well as film directing, writing plays and the study of copyright laws.
In recent years, universities in China and Korea have also begun offering manga and animation programs, drawing many students locally. But Keiko Takemiya, dean of the manga program at Kyoto Seika University and a famed manga artist, said there were differences.
“What they teach in Korea is mostly cartoons like you see in the U.S.,” she said. “They don’t quite teach the ‘story manga.”’
Story manga is known for its feature lengths and distinct story lines, as compared with the one-liner cartoons with gags and jokes.
Ms. Takemiya said that manga’s secret was in its limitless boundaries in form and content, and that the sheer number and the kind of manga available in Japan far exceed those in other countries.
And that includes adult-themed manga/animation that may or may not include sexually explicit content that many other countries are staying away from.
“What they teach in China is animation meant for children,” said Mr. Sugiyama of Digital Hollywood. “But what we teach is geared towards both children and adults.”
A professor at Kyoto Seika University, Jacqueline Berndt, one of the few non-Japanese faculty members in the field, said language and culture were an obstacle to wider acceptance of the programs.
In addition, she said, the manga and animation programs might not have yet been fully organized into a coherent body of knowledge and theories that scholars from other countries can understand and appreciate.
One reason the art has never been compiled into a structured body of knowledge: In a country where public education has been strictly administered, manga and animation have thrived in a creative way precisely because they operated outside the purview of the system, free from any supervision from the authorities.
“Manga flourished as a counterculture to the establishment academia,” Ms. Takemiya said. “There was actually a resistance to the idea of organizing the art into an academic program” in the industry.
Most Japanese scholars and teachers acknowledge that the body of knowledge they teach is still in the process of being organized into a system.
“We put together and offer classes that we believe will be of use to people who are going into the trade, but if we wait till manga and animation studies are fully structured and organized academically, that’s too late,” Mr. Sugiyama said. “In a world where creative content is digitalizing and globalizing, we need to train young people in these arts now.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/business/global/27manga.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
Zack Wood, a Stanford graduate, enrolled at Kyoto Seika University in Japan to study manga, the popular comic form.
That is precisely the blend Mr. Wood, who grew up in the United States and is now studying at Kyoto Seika University’s manga program, is angling for.
Mr. Wood, a 25-year-old graduate of Stanford University in California, and students like him have gravitated toward the modern Japanese arts, feeling they may help them advance their careers in animation, design, computer graphics and the business of promoting them.
And as Japanese universities work harder to attract students to fill their classrooms while the country’s birth rate declines, more are offering degrees in manga and animation.
“I like it here because you get totally immersed in the skill training” of manga and animation, Mr. Wood said. “It has turned out to be a lot of fun.”
Once they are armed with unique technical and industry knowledge, many international students are eager to gain work experience here upon graduation before heading back home.
Li Lin Lin, 28, a student from northeastern China who attends Digital Hollywood University, a school in Tokyo that specializes in animation and video games, said that upon finishing her degree, it would probably be “easy” to find a job in the animation field in China. The real trophy, she said, was getting job experience in the country of manga. Ms. Li is especially interested in working for a Japanese animation studio.
“I think you can do almost anything back home once you get a degree and animation working experiences in Japan,” said Ms. Li, emerging from her class on digital animation coloring one Saturday afternoon.
Hidenori Ohyama, senior director of corporate strategy at Toei Animation, said it was possible that international students could end up at Japanese companies like his. “If they apply, take our tests and pass, they will become employees just like anyone else,” he said.
His company, a leading animation company that has produced “Dragonball” and “Slam Dunk” films, has Romanian and Korean producers, among other foreign citizens, Mr. Ohyama said.
None of the animation-themed Japanese university programs seem to be on the international radar yet, said Kison Chang, a training manager at Imagi Studios, an international animation production studio based in Hong Kong.
But he said students studying in Japan who ended up with solid work experiences at Japanese studios could be prime candidates for international recruitment.
“They would certainly be a great benefit to our professional line,” he said. “They might bring in some kind of spirit which we may not know, or something we didn’t realize that would be a benefit to us,” he said.
Such individuals are not yet on his teams, nor at any of his rivals, he said.
Another possible reason that the programs have not received international attention is that the language of instruction is Japanese.
Tomoyuki Sugiyama, president of Digital Hollywood University, conceded that language might be a serious barrier, especially for Western students.
“If we had an English-based program at the graduate level, for example, we would be inundated with Western students almost instantly,” he said.
Nevertheless, at Kyoto Seika University, which established the country’s first manga program, the number of foreign students in it has risen to 57 currently out of a total of 800 students in the program from just 19 in 2000.
Since it was founded in 2005, Digital Hollywood University has seen its international students grow to 84 this year, roughly 20 percent of its student body, from just one when the school began.
“I want to see it grow to 50 percent of the entire students in the very near future,” Mr. Sugiyama said.
In the past 10 years, more than a dozen university departments and programs have been created to offer a degree or a cluster of courses meant as a concentration in manga, animation and video games, and a similar number of vocational schools offer training in the art.
At Digital Hollywood, with campus buildings spread across the Akihabara area in Tokyo, the nation’s capital for otaku, or nerds, students from Korea, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and other Asian countries, who constitute the bulk of the international student body, mingle with Japanese students.
The curriculum at the schools usually includes courses on drawing, coloring, and motion picture production, as well as film directing, writing plays and the study of copyright laws.
In recent years, universities in China and Korea have also begun offering manga and animation programs, drawing many students locally. But Keiko Takemiya, dean of the manga program at Kyoto Seika University and a famed manga artist, said there were differences.
“What they teach in Korea is mostly cartoons like you see in the U.S.,” she said. “They don’t quite teach the ‘story manga.”’
Story manga is known for its feature lengths and distinct story lines, as compared with the one-liner cartoons with gags and jokes.
Ms. Takemiya said that manga’s secret was in its limitless boundaries in form and content, and that the sheer number and the kind of manga available in Japan far exceed those in other countries.
And that includes adult-themed manga/animation that may or may not include sexually explicit content that many other countries are staying away from.
“What they teach in China is animation meant for children,” said Mr. Sugiyama of Digital Hollywood. “But what we teach is geared towards both children and adults.”
A professor at Kyoto Seika University, Jacqueline Berndt, one of the few non-Japanese faculty members in the field, said language and culture were an obstacle to wider acceptance of the programs.
In addition, she said, the manga and animation programs might not have yet been fully organized into a coherent body of knowledge and theories that scholars from other countries can understand and appreciate.
One reason the art has never been compiled into a structured body of knowledge: In a country where public education has been strictly administered, manga and animation have thrived in a creative way precisely because they operated outside the purview of the system, free from any supervision from the authorities.
“Manga flourished as a counterculture to the establishment academia,” Ms. Takemiya said. “There was actually a resistance to the idea of organizing the art into an academic program” in the industry.
Most Japanese scholars and teachers acknowledge that the body of knowledge they teach is still in the process of being organized into a system.
“We put together and offer classes that we believe will be of use to people who are going into the trade, but if we wait till manga and animation studies are fully structured and organized academically, that’s too late,” Mr. Sugiyama said. “In a world where creative content is digitalizing and globalizing, we need to train young people in these arts now.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/business/global/27manga.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Japanese businesses lose out in hiring of top Chinese talent
In the old days, when the Japanese management style helped to push Japan to the top of the economic stratosphere, Japanese corporations often laughed at the inefficient operations of their Chinese counterparts.
But now, as fast-growing China is set to overtake Japan as the world's second-largest economy, Japanese companies find themselves near the bottom of the pecking order in terms of hiring in China.
The most talented Chinese are flocking to Chinese, U.S. and European companies that offer higher wages and better chances for promotion than Japanese companies. Other skilled workers are fleeing their Japanese employers for more promising futures at Chinese firms.
And even Japanese workers, who could be regarded as the new "cheap labor" in China, are turning to foreign companies.
A job offer posted on a website for MBA graduates from a prestigious Chinese university underscores how rising salaries in China are luring elite workers.
It said: "Offer from a head-hunting firm. Post of deputy manager, sales headquarters, at a major sports gear company. Experience at a foreign firm in the same business required. Annual pay 1.5 million yuan (19.5 million yen, or $230,000)."
"It's adequate because the rivals are such popular makers as Nike of the United States or Adidas of Germany," said a member of the group. "No one would take the post for 1 million yuan."
Until five years ago, 1 million yuan could hire someone as CEO, said pioneer head-hunter Louisa Wong, founder of Bo Le Associates Ltd., a Hong Kong-based executive search company specializing in Chinese.
One million yuan can now hire only up to a business manager, she said.
Foreign companies used to come to China for cheap labor, but they now need market-knowledgeable people who understand regional differences, can liaise with government officials and lead sales strategy in the country.
According to Wong, the annual salary for a CEO is 2 million to 3 million yuan--a level beyond what ordinary Japanese companies can pay to people in charge of their Chinese operations.
Wong said multinational companies want a "superman" who can handle any task related to developing the Chinese market.
She said her business remained brisk even during the financial crisis that started in fall 2008.
Pierre Zhuang, chief of Bo Le's Shanghai operations, worked for the Chinese arm of Suntory Ltd. when he was recruited by Wong to the nascent head-hunting industry.
The market in China grew tenfold in the past 10 years to 20 billion yuan. Zhuang foresees another tenfold increase in the coming decade.
Bo Le has further expanded its business this year by concluding a deal with Japan's Recruit Co., which obtained a 14.3-percent stake in the company.
Dai Huaizong, chief at the Chinese arm of French electronics and cookware maker Groupe SEB, used to work for another European company. He earns nearly 4 million yuan a year, according to a company that head-hunted Dai.
Yao Mumu, 32, who left a foreign accounting firm in Beijing for the post of deputy financial director at a Chinese infrastructure firm, said phone calls from head-hunters are almost an daily occurrence.
A qualified accountant, Yao earns 400,000 yuan a year, far higher than the income for ordinary Chinese business people.
But she says: "The chances are 90 percent that I will switch jobs in five years. My annual income will perhaps be 1 million yuan then."
However, most Chinese aren't automatically offered huge salaries; they have to work at it to reach that level.
The average monthly wage of workers is 3,700 yuan, even in Beijing, where payments are relatively high. And in a tight job market, new college graduates' initial monthly salary is 3,000 yuan on average.
Changing jobs is one common way to increase one's fortunes, according to Zhu Xiaodong, who runs a marketing company in Beijing.
While an employee could expect to earn only up to 10,000 yuan a month after working many years, "the wage will jump to about 50,000 yuan if you switch jobs after getting new qualifications or building careers," he said.
An MBA degree is one of those qualifications deemed a "ticket to high-paying jobs."
About 78,000 people applied to MBA courses in China in 2010, twice as many as three years earlier.
Gao Xudong, director of the prestigious MBA program at Tsinghua University, said a major change has occurred among the course's graduates in the past five years.
"Most obtained jobs in foreign-affiliates before, but now a majority of our students are aiming for places in domestic companies," Gao said.
China's state-owned enterprises were once infamous for their inefficient management. But they are now regarded as the engine for the nation's growth, and they attract MBA holders by offering favorable benefits packages.
One female student in Tsinghua's MBA program worked for Mitsui & Co.'s local operations and then for Toyota Motor Corp.'s joint venture in China.
The 29-year-old says Toyota's inhouse training program was superb, but she found the daily overtime work unbearable.
Her Chinese colleagues, who went to Chinese automakers or Germany's BMW and Daimler, saw their wages almost double.
"(Toyota's) training is excellent, but the working conditions were bad. It has become a reaping ground for other businesses," she said.
The student said that once she obtains her MBA, Japanese companies will be off her radar in terms of employment.
She is not alone. Many who change jobs say they try to avoid Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese companies, which have three problems in common: demanding work, low pay and little chance of promotion.
Personnel resources companies in China say wage levels at U.S. and European companies are about 1.5 times that of Japanese firms.
"If you offer salary levels of the past, then Chinese employees would flee," said Li Jun, 33, who quit an NEC Corp. affiliate to found a venture business in the environment field.
In good years for business, Li earns up to 100 million yen.
Born in a poor village in Sichuan province, Li said: "Because we can't foresee the future (in an unstable society), we want to build assets quickly. Companies are not aware of such pressing needs among Chinese workers."
A 33-year-old Chinese graduate of the University of Tokyo, who works for an independent administrative agency in Japan as a researcher, was surprised when he started looking for work in Beijing.
A major Japanese information technology firm offered only a quarter of what he earns now.
"That's so meager even though prices in Beijing are much lower than in Tokyo," he said.
A Chinese telecommunications firm, on the other hand, offered to match his pay in Japan.
"Chinese pay great attention to room for growth, such as how much the company will grow and what they would be allowed to do there," the man said, adding that Japan today doesn't offer such opportunities.
SEB's Dai also says promotion is a huge factor.
Dai has served as chief of Apple Inc.'s Chinese arm. "If Japanese companies do not entrust the post to Chinese, then they are not among the options."
Bo Le's Wong also points to the low level of CEO salaries at Japanese businesses.
Seeking equality among employees may be a Japanese business feature, but it does not work in China, she said.
Some Japanese corporations, such as trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and machinery maker Komatsu Ltd., are taking steps to promote Chinese employees to executive positions.
A locally hired Chinese was promoted to an executive post at Mitsubishi's Dalian subsidiary last year.
And in the Chinese offices of some major Japanese companies, there are cases where Chinese employees earn more than their Japanese colleagues.
But Jin Rui, general manager of Intelligence (China) Co., a Shanghai affiliate of Intelligence Ltd. of Japan, said most Japanese companies still put too much emphasis on Japanese language proficiency in hiring Chinese.
Meanwhile, as Chinese workers fetch higher salaries, young Japanese have emerged as lower-cost workers.
A 29-year-old Japanese man at a major U.S. call center in Dalian was surprised last summer to find his Chinese colleague was paid 13,000 yuan a month, much more than he got.
The employer raised the wages of Chinese after many hopped to a higher-paying U.S. rival and others demanded pay increases.
In Dalian, many offices are being set up to provide outsourcing services for Japanese businesses.
Such offices used to hire mainly Chinese, but they now are turning more to Japanese, who have difficulty finding jobs back home.
"There have always been openings for Japanese," said Wang Jin, head of Pasona Tech Dalian Co.
Chinese workers capable of speaking Japanese have strong academic backgrounds, but their initial pay is still generally lower than Japanese employees.
But in the industry, Japanese are said to be "low cost on the longer term" because they do not demand pay raises as Chinese do.
Japanese also tend to stay longer at one company, well aware of the tough job situation in Japan.
A major U.S. computer maker is also hiring Japanese for its call center in Dalian. In late October, five were newly employed from Japan, and their comments reflect the vast differences between the Chinese and Japanese job markets.
Ayaka Sakurada, 25, graduated from a British university but could not find a job in Britain or Japan. She has decided to study Chinese, too.
Yusuke Umewaka, 31, earned 270,000 yen a month at an apparel shop in Tokyo, but gave up on the "shrinking" retail sector in Japan.
A 28-year-old man quit a listed Japanese company, where he earned 6 million yen a year. He found his former employer, who rejected his proposals for new business, hopeless.
Junko Oishi, 36, came to Dalian after twice losing temporary staff jobs after the 2008 financial crisis. She says she could not expect to find a good job in Japan.
(This article was written by Tokuhiko Saito and Tetsushi Yamamura.)
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201012270252.html
But now, as fast-growing China is set to overtake Japan as the world's second-largest economy, Japanese companies find themselves near the bottom of the pecking order in terms of hiring in China.
The most talented Chinese are flocking to Chinese, U.S. and European companies that offer higher wages and better chances for promotion than Japanese companies. Other skilled workers are fleeing their Japanese employers for more promising futures at Chinese firms.
And even Japanese workers, who could be regarded as the new "cheap labor" in China, are turning to foreign companies.
A job offer posted on a website for MBA graduates from a prestigious Chinese university underscores how rising salaries in China are luring elite workers.
It said: "Offer from a head-hunting firm. Post of deputy manager, sales headquarters, at a major sports gear company. Experience at a foreign firm in the same business required. Annual pay 1.5 million yuan (19.5 million yen, or $230,000)."
"It's adequate because the rivals are such popular makers as Nike of the United States or Adidas of Germany," said a member of the group. "No one would take the post for 1 million yuan."
Until five years ago, 1 million yuan could hire someone as CEO, said pioneer head-hunter Louisa Wong, founder of Bo Le Associates Ltd., a Hong Kong-based executive search company specializing in Chinese.
One million yuan can now hire only up to a business manager, she said.
Foreign companies used to come to China for cheap labor, but they now need market-knowledgeable people who understand regional differences, can liaise with government officials and lead sales strategy in the country.
According to Wong, the annual salary for a CEO is 2 million to 3 million yuan--a level beyond what ordinary Japanese companies can pay to people in charge of their Chinese operations.
Wong said multinational companies want a "superman" who can handle any task related to developing the Chinese market.
She said her business remained brisk even during the financial crisis that started in fall 2008.
Pierre Zhuang, chief of Bo Le's Shanghai operations, worked for the Chinese arm of Suntory Ltd. when he was recruited by Wong to the nascent head-hunting industry.
The market in China grew tenfold in the past 10 years to 20 billion yuan. Zhuang foresees another tenfold increase in the coming decade.
Bo Le has further expanded its business this year by concluding a deal with Japan's Recruit Co., which obtained a 14.3-percent stake in the company.
Dai Huaizong, chief at the Chinese arm of French electronics and cookware maker Groupe SEB, used to work for another European company. He earns nearly 4 million yuan a year, according to a company that head-hunted Dai.
Yao Mumu, 32, who left a foreign accounting firm in Beijing for the post of deputy financial director at a Chinese infrastructure firm, said phone calls from head-hunters are almost an daily occurrence.
A qualified accountant, Yao earns 400,000 yuan a year, far higher than the income for ordinary Chinese business people.
But she says: "The chances are 90 percent that I will switch jobs in five years. My annual income will perhaps be 1 million yuan then."
However, most Chinese aren't automatically offered huge salaries; they have to work at it to reach that level.
The average monthly wage of workers is 3,700 yuan, even in Beijing, where payments are relatively high. And in a tight job market, new college graduates' initial monthly salary is 3,000 yuan on average.
Changing jobs is one common way to increase one's fortunes, according to Zhu Xiaodong, who runs a marketing company in Beijing.
While an employee could expect to earn only up to 10,000 yuan a month after working many years, "the wage will jump to about 50,000 yuan if you switch jobs after getting new qualifications or building careers," he said.
An MBA degree is one of those qualifications deemed a "ticket to high-paying jobs."
About 78,000 people applied to MBA courses in China in 2010, twice as many as three years earlier.
Gao Xudong, director of the prestigious MBA program at Tsinghua University, said a major change has occurred among the course's graduates in the past five years.
"Most obtained jobs in foreign-affiliates before, but now a majority of our students are aiming for places in domestic companies," Gao said.
China's state-owned enterprises were once infamous for their inefficient management. But they are now regarded as the engine for the nation's growth, and they attract MBA holders by offering favorable benefits packages.
One female student in Tsinghua's MBA program worked for Mitsui & Co.'s local operations and then for Toyota Motor Corp.'s joint venture in China.
The 29-year-old says Toyota's inhouse training program was superb, but she found the daily overtime work unbearable.
Her Chinese colleagues, who went to Chinese automakers or Germany's BMW and Daimler, saw their wages almost double.
"(Toyota's) training is excellent, but the working conditions were bad. It has become a reaping ground for other businesses," she said.
The student said that once she obtains her MBA, Japanese companies will be off her radar in terms of employment.
She is not alone. Many who change jobs say they try to avoid Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese companies, which have three problems in common: demanding work, low pay and little chance of promotion.
Personnel resources companies in China say wage levels at U.S. and European companies are about 1.5 times that of Japanese firms.
"If you offer salary levels of the past, then Chinese employees would flee," said Li Jun, 33, who quit an NEC Corp. affiliate to found a venture business in the environment field.
In good years for business, Li earns up to 100 million yen.
Born in a poor village in Sichuan province, Li said: "Because we can't foresee the future (in an unstable society), we want to build assets quickly. Companies are not aware of such pressing needs among Chinese workers."
A 33-year-old Chinese graduate of the University of Tokyo, who works for an independent administrative agency in Japan as a researcher, was surprised when he started looking for work in Beijing.
A major Japanese information technology firm offered only a quarter of what he earns now.
"That's so meager even though prices in Beijing are much lower than in Tokyo," he said.
A Chinese telecommunications firm, on the other hand, offered to match his pay in Japan.
"Chinese pay great attention to room for growth, such as how much the company will grow and what they would be allowed to do there," the man said, adding that Japan today doesn't offer such opportunities.
SEB's Dai also says promotion is a huge factor.
Dai has served as chief of Apple Inc.'s Chinese arm. "If Japanese companies do not entrust the post to Chinese, then they are not among the options."
Bo Le's Wong also points to the low level of CEO salaries at Japanese businesses.
Seeking equality among employees may be a Japanese business feature, but it does not work in China, she said.
Some Japanese corporations, such as trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and machinery maker Komatsu Ltd., are taking steps to promote Chinese employees to executive positions.
A locally hired Chinese was promoted to an executive post at Mitsubishi's Dalian subsidiary last year.
And in the Chinese offices of some major Japanese companies, there are cases where Chinese employees earn more than their Japanese colleagues.
But Jin Rui, general manager of Intelligence (China) Co., a Shanghai affiliate of Intelligence Ltd. of Japan, said most Japanese companies still put too much emphasis on Japanese language proficiency in hiring Chinese.
Meanwhile, as Chinese workers fetch higher salaries, young Japanese have emerged as lower-cost workers.
A 29-year-old Japanese man at a major U.S. call center in Dalian was surprised last summer to find his Chinese colleague was paid 13,000 yuan a month, much more than he got.
The employer raised the wages of Chinese after many hopped to a higher-paying U.S. rival and others demanded pay increases.
In Dalian, many offices are being set up to provide outsourcing services for Japanese businesses.
Such offices used to hire mainly Chinese, but they now are turning more to Japanese, who have difficulty finding jobs back home.
"There have always been openings for Japanese," said Wang Jin, head of Pasona Tech Dalian Co.
Chinese workers capable of speaking Japanese have strong academic backgrounds, but their initial pay is still generally lower than Japanese employees.
But in the industry, Japanese are said to be "low cost on the longer term" because they do not demand pay raises as Chinese do.
Japanese also tend to stay longer at one company, well aware of the tough job situation in Japan.
A major U.S. computer maker is also hiring Japanese for its call center in Dalian. In late October, five were newly employed from Japan, and their comments reflect the vast differences between the Chinese and Japanese job markets.
Ayaka Sakurada, 25, graduated from a British university but could not find a job in Britain or Japan. She has decided to study Chinese, too.
Yusuke Umewaka, 31, earned 270,000 yen a month at an apparel shop in Tokyo, but gave up on the "shrinking" retail sector in Japan.
A 28-year-old man quit a listed Japanese company, where he earned 6 million yen a year. He found his former employer, who rejected his proposals for new business, hopeless.
Junko Oishi, 36, came to Dalian after twice losing temporary staff jobs after the 2008 financial crisis. She says she could not expect to find a good job in Japan.
(This article was written by Tokuhiko Saito and Tetsushi Yamamura.)
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201012270252.html
Monday, December 27, 2010
U.S. alarmed by falling Japanese enrollments at universities
The U.S. government is taking steps to encourage more Japanese students to study at U.S. universities out of concern that the recent sharp drop in Japanese enrollments might result in weakening bilateral relations over the long run.
The number of Japanese students who entered U.S. universities in fall last year dropped 15 percent from a year earlier to around 24,800, a sharp fall from around 47,000 in 2001, according to the U.S. Institute of International Education.
Japan placed sixth on the nationality list of students studying in the United States last year, while China, listed top, increased enrollments by around 30 percent to some 127,600. India ranked second followed by South Korea.
Declines in Japanese enrollments are blamed on an economic slowdown following the collapse of the bubble economy in the 1990s and the growing tendency among Japanese youth to prefer studying domestically to going abroad.
In order to stem the ongoing trend that Tokyo and Washington fear might lead to atrophying of ties between the two nations, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and President Barack Obama agreed in their talks in November to step up measures to broaden contacts between Japanese and Americans. They also confirmed that they should make use of the Japanese government's program for inviting Americans to teach English at Japanese schools.
The U.S. Embassy in Japan is also weighing in to get more Japanese to study at U.S. schools, sponsoring an English speech contest by Japanese high school students in November in Tokyo.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KBFPL00&show_article=1
The number of Japanese students who entered U.S. universities in fall last year dropped 15 percent from a year earlier to around 24,800, a sharp fall from around 47,000 in 2001, according to the U.S. Institute of International Education.
Japan placed sixth on the nationality list of students studying in the United States last year, while China, listed top, increased enrollments by around 30 percent to some 127,600. India ranked second followed by South Korea.
Declines in Japanese enrollments are blamed on an economic slowdown following the collapse of the bubble economy in the 1990s and the growing tendency among Japanese youth to prefer studying domestically to going abroad.
In order to stem the ongoing trend that Tokyo and Washington fear might lead to atrophying of ties between the two nations, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and President Barack Obama agreed in their talks in November to step up measures to broaden contacts between Japanese and Americans. They also confirmed that they should make use of the Japanese government's program for inviting Americans to teach English at Japanese schools.
The U.S. Embassy in Japan is also weighing in to get more Japanese to study at U.S. schools, sponsoring an English speech contest by Japanese high school students in November in Tokyo.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KBFPL00&show_article=1
Friday, December 24, 2010
More Japanese students studying after university graduation to boost job prospects
A growing number of Japanese university graduates are studying at vocational schools instead of diving straight into the work force in a bid to acquire marketable skills amid the prolonged recession.
Nearly 20,000 university graduates entered vocational schools across the country this academic year, up nearly 4,000 from the previous year, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Some believe that their chance of finding jobs will increase after study at vocational schools because they are still regarded by employers as new graduates. Most Japanese companies prefer to hire new graduates.
Some vocational schools have even set up special courses for students who have graduated from universities.
The Ohara Gakuen educational corporation set up a special business course at the Tokyo-Suidobashi campus of its Ohara Boki Gakko (accounting school) this academic year. The new course is targeted at graduates of four-year universities and two-year junior colleges who failed to find jobs.
While supporting the students' ongoing job-hunting attempts, the new course trains them to acquire special knowledge and skills in various fields.
Course educators hold numerous interviews with individual students to teach them how to fill in job application forms and how to respond to job interviews, as well as to find the types of jobs they are suited to.
Ohara set up the course in response to a steady increase in the number of university graduates who enter vocational schools after failing to get jobs. As of Dec. 17, 35 out of 37 students enrolled in the course have received job offers.
One of them, a 22-year-old woman who studied at the course after graduating from Waseda University, got a job offer from a trading company.
"The school provides students with sufficient job guidance on an individual basis. It was really helpful. Universities, too, should improve their job guidance," she said.
A total of 1,662 university and junior college graduates and dropouts joined 17 vocational schools Ohara operates in the Tokyo metropolitan area this school year, including those enrolled in the special course. The figure was more than double the 792 students at its schools in the 2006 academic year.
"Some may wonder why these students enter vocational schools after graduating from university. But we've enjoyed high popularity from our students," an Ohara spokesman said. "I think this reflects growing demand for education provided by vocational schools, which help students acquire marketable skills."
Of about 600 freshmen at Tokyo School of Business, which caters to those aspiring to join the media as well as the pet business, 41 are university graduates.
"Usually, around 20 university graduates join our school each year, but the sharp rise is attributable to difficulties in finding jobs," says an official of the school. "If this trend continues, we'll consider setting up new courses."
Altogether, 7.3 percent of the 267,077 people who entered vocational schools in the academic year that began this April were university graduates, according to the ministry -- well above about 5 percent between 2001 and 2008.
The National Association of Special Institutes of Japan expects a further increase in the figure.
"If the severe employ situation continues, the number will further rise," said association Secretary-General Kaoru Kikuta.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20101223p2a00m0na010000c.html
Nearly 20,000 university graduates entered vocational schools across the country this academic year, up nearly 4,000 from the previous year, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Some believe that their chance of finding jobs will increase after study at vocational schools because they are still regarded by employers as new graduates. Most Japanese companies prefer to hire new graduates.
Some vocational schools have even set up special courses for students who have graduated from universities.
The Ohara Gakuen educational corporation set up a special business course at the Tokyo-Suidobashi campus of its Ohara Boki Gakko (accounting school) this academic year. The new course is targeted at graduates of four-year universities and two-year junior colleges who failed to find jobs.
While supporting the students' ongoing job-hunting attempts, the new course trains them to acquire special knowledge and skills in various fields.
Course educators hold numerous interviews with individual students to teach them how to fill in job application forms and how to respond to job interviews, as well as to find the types of jobs they are suited to.
Ohara set up the course in response to a steady increase in the number of university graduates who enter vocational schools after failing to get jobs. As of Dec. 17, 35 out of 37 students enrolled in the course have received job offers.
One of them, a 22-year-old woman who studied at the course after graduating from Waseda University, got a job offer from a trading company.
"The school provides students with sufficient job guidance on an individual basis. It was really helpful. Universities, too, should improve their job guidance," she said.
A total of 1,662 university and junior college graduates and dropouts joined 17 vocational schools Ohara operates in the Tokyo metropolitan area this school year, including those enrolled in the special course. The figure was more than double the 792 students at its schools in the 2006 academic year.
"Some may wonder why these students enter vocational schools after graduating from university. But we've enjoyed high popularity from our students," an Ohara spokesman said. "I think this reflects growing demand for education provided by vocational schools, which help students acquire marketable skills."
Of about 600 freshmen at Tokyo School of Business, which caters to those aspiring to join the media as well as the pet business, 41 are university graduates.
"Usually, around 20 university graduates join our school each year, but the sharp rise is attributable to difficulties in finding jobs," says an official of the school. "If this trend continues, we'll consider setting up new courses."
Altogether, 7.3 percent of the 267,077 people who entered vocational schools in the academic year that began this April were university graduates, according to the ministry -- well above about 5 percent between 2001 and 2008.
The National Association of Special Institutes of Japan expects a further increase in the figure.
"If the severe employ situation continues, the number will further rise," said association Secretary-General Kaoru Kikuta.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20101223p2a00m0na010000c.html
Thursday, December 23, 2010
No. of Japanese studying abroad down, foreign students in Japan rising
The number of Japanese studying abroad declined by a record level in 2008, while the number of foreign students currently studying in Japan reached a record-high as of May this year, reports by the education ministry and an independent organization showed Wednesday.
The Japan Student Services Organization said in its report that a record-high number of 141,774 foreigners are studying in Japan, up 9,054 from the year before, while the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said the number of Japanese studying abroad totaled 66,833 in 2008, 8,323 fewer than the previous year.
The number of Japanese students studying aboard has been on the decline since peaking at 82,945 in 2004, while that of foreigners studying in Japan has been growing. In 2008, the number of foreign students in Japan was 123,829.
Education ministry officials said the current job recruitment process in Japan is apparently discouraging Japanese students from studying abroad for fear of missing out on opportunities to apply for jobs in a given period.
Students are reluctant to study abroad also because of current economic conditions, the officials said.
The Japanese government has set goals of having 300,000 foreigners studying in Japan and the same number of Japanese studying abroad by the year 2020.
It hopes to increase the number of Japanese students overseas by encouraging them to enroll in short-term programs.
The United States was the most popular destination for Japanese studying abroad in 2008 at 29,264. But the number dropped to 24,842 in 2009, according to the latest data by the Institute of International Education, which is used by the ministry to compile the report.
China was the second most popular at 16,733, followed by Britain at 4,465.
Students from Asia accounted for 92 percent of all foreigners studying in Japan, according to the latest survey by the student services organization. The number of students from China came to 86,173, up 7,091 from the previous year, accounting for 61 percent of the total, followed by 20,202 students from South Korea.
By prefecture, Tokyo has the largest number of foreign students at 45,617, followed by Osaka Prefecture at 10,791 and Fukuoka Prefecture at 9,665.
By university, Waseda University has accepted the largest number of foreign students at 3,568, followed by Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University at 2,921 and the University of Tokyo at 2,772.
(Mainichi Japan) December 23, 2010
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20101223p2g00m0dm004000c.html
The Japan Student Services Organization said in its report that a record-high number of 141,774 foreigners are studying in Japan, up 9,054 from the year before, while the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said the number of Japanese studying abroad totaled 66,833 in 2008, 8,323 fewer than the previous year.
The number of Japanese students studying aboard has been on the decline since peaking at 82,945 in 2004, while that of foreigners studying in Japan has been growing. In 2008, the number of foreign students in Japan was 123,829.
Education ministry officials said the current job recruitment process in Japan is apparently discouraging Japanese students from studying abroad for fear of missing out on opportunities to apply for jobs in a given period.
Students are reluctant to study abroad also because of current economic conditions, the officials said.
The Japanese government has set goals of having 300,000 foreigners studying in Japan and the same number of Japanese studying abroad by the year 2020.
It hopes to increase the number of Japanese students overseas by encouraging them to enroll in short-term programs.
The United States was the most popular destination for Japanese studying abroad in 2008 at 29,264. But the number dropped to 24,842 in 2009, according to the latest data by the Institute of International Education, which is used by the ministry to compile the report.
China was the second most popular at 16,733, followed by Britain at 4,465.
Students from Asia accounted for 92 percent of all foreigners studying in Japan, according to the latest survey by the student services organization. The number of students from China came to 86,173, up 7,091 from the previous year, accounting for 61 percent of the total, followed by 20,202 students from South Korea.
By prefecture, Tokyo has the largest number of foreign students at 45,617, followed by Osaka Prefecture at 10,791 and Fukuoka Prefecture at 9,665.
By university, Waseda University has accepted the largest number of foreign students at 3,568, followed by Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University at 2,921 and the University of Tokyo at 2,772.
(Mainichi Japan) December 23, 2010
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20101223p2g00m0dm004000c.html
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Japan's new educational isolation
Would Mainichi readers be surprised to learn that Japan is preparing to ax one of the cornerstones of its higher education internationalization strategy?
The government's cost-cutting panel, which is trying to slash costs in a bid to trim the country's runaway public debt, voted on Nov. 18 to abolish and "restructure" the Global 30 project.
Launched last year with a budget of 3.2 billion yen, Global 30 envisioned "core" universities "dramatically" boosting the number of international students in Japan and Japanese students studying abroad, said the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The ministry's strict selection process, however, meant that just 13 elite universities made the initial grade. Now the project has been terminated.
Can Japan afford this? Fewer than 4 percent of Japan's university students come from abroad -- 133,000, well below China (223,000) and the U.S. (672,000). Just 5 percent of its 353,000 university teachers are foreign, according to Ministry of Education statistics. Most of those are English teachers.
At the opposite end of the education pendulum, students here are increasingly staying at home: Japanese undergraduate enrollments in U.S. universities have plummeted by over half since 2000. Numbers to Europe are also down.
Japan, in the view of many, may be entering another period of educational sakoku -- or self-enforced isolation.
South Korea, with about half Japan's population, sends over twice as many students to the U.S. At some American universities, such as Cornell, Japan is behind not just China and South Korea, but even Thailand and tiny Singapore.
Japan's share of global research production, meanwhile, fell from 9.45 percent to 6.75 percent over the last decade, according to the latest Global Research Report. While the report noted "areas of excellence" in Japan's profile, it blamed its faltering performance on a dearth of international collaborations.
Global 30 was supposed to partly remedy those ills, helping Japanese universities reach a government goal of 300,000 foreign students by 2020, while sending the same number of Japanese students abroad.
"We think those universities will set an example for other colleges by leading with good practice," said Kato Shigeharu, deputy director of Higher Education Bureau at the ministry. "This practice will then diffuse to other colleges around the country."
That interview came before the government decision.
With the worst public debt in the industrialized world -- 900 trillion yen ($10.6 trillion) -- Japan has much less fiscal leg-room than its competitors. So budget cutting may be inevitable, but why not intensify the effort to target useless dams or highways rather than education?
The decision has been greeted with dismay. "This government is destroying Japan," said Yoshida Go, a professor with the Office of International Strategic Planning at Nagoya University -- one of the 13 selectees.
"Quite honestly, Japan is late in the game of globalization in higher education. But the government's left hand doesn't know what its right hand is doing." (By David McNeill)
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/column/news/20101220p2a00m0na002000c.html
The government's cost-cutting panel, which is trying to slash costs in a bid to trim the country's runaway public debt, voted on Nov. 18 to abolish and "restructure" the Global 30 project.
Launched last year with a budget of 3.2 billion yen, Global 30 envisioned "core" universities "dramatically" boosting the number of international students in Japan and Japanese students studying abroad, said the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The ministry's strict selection process, however, meant that just 13 elite universities made the initial grade. Now the project has been terminated.
Can Japan afford this? Fewer than 4 percent of Japan's university students come from abroad -- 133,000, well below China (223,000) and the U.S. (672,000). Just 5 percent of its 353,000 university teachers are foreign, according to Ministry of Education statistics. Most of those are English teachers.
At the opposite end of the education pendulum, students here are increasingly staying at home: Japanese undergraduate enrollments in U.S. universities have plummeted by over half since 2000. Numbers to Europe are also down.
Japan, in the view of many, may be entering another period of educational sakoku -- or self-enforced isolation.
South Korea, with about half Japan's population, sends over twice as many students to the U.S. At some American universities, such as Cornell, Japan is behind not just China and South Korea, but even Thailand and tiny Singapore.
Japan's share of global research production, meanwhile, fell from 9.45 percent to 6.75 percent over the last decade, according to the latest Global Research Report. While the report noted "areas of excellence" in Japan's profile, it blamed its faltering performance on a dearth of international collaborations.
Global 30 was supposed to partly remedy those ills, helping Japanese universities reach a government goal of 300,000 foreign students by 2020, while sending the same number of Japanese students abroad.
"We think those universities will set an example for other colleges by leading with good practice," said Kato Shigeharu, deputy director of Higher Education Bureau at the ministry. "This practice will then diffuse to other colleges around the country."
That interview came before the government decision.
With the worst public debt in the industrialized world -- 900 trillion yen ($10.6 trillion) -- Japan has much less fiscal leg-room than its competitors. So budget cutting may be inevitable, but why not intensify the effort to target useless dams or highways rather than education?
The decision has been greeted with dismay. "This government is destroying Japan," said Yoshida Go, a professor with the Office of International Strategic Planning at Nagoya University -- one of the 13 selectees.
"Quite honestly, Japan is late in the game of globalization in higher education. But the government's left hand doesn't know what its right hand is doing." (By David McNeill)
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/column/news/20101220p2a00m0na002000c.html
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Firms turning to foreign students
University students are having a hard time finding jobs amid the economic downturn, with those who have secured employment starting after their scheduled graduation next spring hitting a record low of 57.6 percent as of Oct. 1.
But a new trend among firms to seek more aggressive and proactive employees may be creating more chances for foreign students looking for work experience in Japan, even in the increasingly competitive job market.
According to an August poll by job information provider DISCO Inc., 11 percent of responding firms said they have employed foreign students since April, and 21 percent said they plan to do so next fiscal year.
Rakuten Inc., the country's biggest online shopping mall operator, is one of the leading examples of firms opening up to foreign students.
The Tokyo-based company, which expects foreign employees to eventually comprise about half its workforce, began boosting its recruitment of foreign students in fiscal 2009.
It has already promised jobs to 78 students from 17 countries, accounting for about one-sixth of new employees slated to start next spring.
Among them is Cristina Popescu, 26, who came to Japan six years ago from Romania. Popescu grew up while the Eastern European country was democratizing, and state-run firms were collapsing.
"I've seen reports in Europe that say Japan is not doing well, but Japanese firms have technology and are creditworthy," said Popescu, a graduate student at Waseda University.
"I want to be involved in developing overseas markets once I enter the company and eventually start a business on my own to contribute to my homeland," she said. "I would be grateful if I can tie up with Rakuten then, too."
At the end of October, teams of Rakuten employees from nine countries gave presentations on elements they consider necessary for a company to become global.
Among the presentations, which reflected the unique views of the different nationalities, the American team listed flexibility and respect for individuality, while the Chinese team stressed the potential of China's market.
Meanwhile, Cross Marketing Inc., an Internet research company based in Tokyo, started to advertise at job fairs for foreign students from the end of June. The firm is also looking to recruit in China.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101210f1.html?
But a new trend among firms to seek more aggressive and proactive employees may be creating more chances for foreign students looking for work experience in Japan, even in the increasingly competitive job market.
According to an August poll by job information provider DISCO Inc., 11 percent of responding firms said they have employed foreign students since April, and 21 percent said they plan to do so next fiscal year.
Rakuten Inc., the country's biggest online shopping mall operator, is one of the leading examples of firms opening up to foreign students.
The Tokyo-based company, which expects foreign employees to eventually comprise about half its workforce, began boosting its recruitment of foreign students in fiscal 2009.
It has already promised jobs to 78 students from 17 countries, accounting for about one-sixth of new employees slated to start next spring.
Among them is Cristina Popescu, 26, who came to Japan six years ago from Romania. Popescu grew up while the Eastern European country was democratizing, and state-run firms were collapsing.
"I've seen reports in Europe that say Japan is not doing well, but Japanese firms have technology and are creditworthy," said Popescu, a graduate student at Waseda University.
"I want to be involved in developing overseas markets once I enter the company and eventually start a business on my own to contribute to my homeland," she said. "I would be grateful if I can tie up with Rakuten then, too."
At the end of October, teams of Rakuten employees from nine countries gave presentations on elements they consider necessary for a company to become global.
Among the presentations, which reflected the unique views of the different nationalities, the American team listed flexibility and respect for individuality, while the Chinese team stressed the potential of China's market.
Meanwhile, Cross Marketing Inc., an Internet research company based in Tokyo, started to advertise at job fairs for foreign students from the end of June. The firm is also looking to recruit in China.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101210f1.html?
City to be centre for Japanese scholarship exams Read more: City to be centre for Japanese scholarship exams
BANGALORE: Next year, students from Karnataka who want to study in Japan needn't go to one of the four metros for scholarship exams. They can come to Bangalore instead.
Announcing this in the backdrop of Emperor Akihito's birthday on December 14, Mayayuki Tsuchikawa, consul and head of the consulate told TOI that scholarships are offered in three courses -- undergraduate, diploma and professional training. "Once Class 12 results are out, an announcement will be made. Thereafter, entrance exams will be held here," Tsuchikawa said. Earlier, state students had to go to Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai or Kolkata. The Japanese embassy currently gives scholarships for research in science and at the post-graduate level.
To draw more students to Japanese universities, Tokyo University is setting up a liaison office in Bangalore next year.
VISA POWER
The number of Indian students in Japanese universities may not be high, but Japan is a favourite job destination.
Over 6,000 visas were issued here and work visas were the most. "More than 20,000 people from India visited Japan on a tourist visa last year,'' Tsuchikawa said.
The consul said 30-35 Japanese companies are setting up units in Karnataka and 150 are already functioning. Besides Toyota, some big names include Komtsu, Sony, Toshiba, Nishin and Yakult. "Japan Steel Company, the second largest steel company in Japan, will set up its independent unit next year in Karnataka. Now, it's functioning in collaboration with JSW,'' Tsuchikawa said.
The Japanese Bank for International Cooperation ( JBIC) has extended 44,704 million yen loan to the Bangalore Metro rail project.
After New Delhi, Karnataka is the favourite destination for Japanese in the country -- over 570 of them live in the state, with 560 in Bangalore alone.
Read more: City to be centre for Japanese scholarship exams - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/City-to-be-centre-for-Japanese-scholarship-exams/articleshow/7089614.cms#ixzz18Grdkj00
Announcing this in the backdrop of Emperor Akihito's birthday on December 14, Mayayuki Tsuchikawa, consul and head of the consulate told TOI that scholarships are offered in three courses -- undergraduate, diploma and professional training. "Once Class 12 results are out, an announcement will be made. Thereafter, entrance exams will be held here," Tsuchikawa said. Earlier, state students had to go to Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai or Kolkata. The Japanese embassy currently gives scholarships for research in science and at the post-graduate level.
To draw more students to Japanese universities, Tokyo University is setting up a liaison office in Bangalore next year.
VISA POWER
The number of Indian students in Japanese universities may not be high, but Japan is a favourite job destination.
Over 6,000 visas were issued here and work visas were the most. "More than 20,000 people from India visited Japan on a tourist visa last year,'' Tsuchikawa said.
The consul said 30-35 Japanese companies are setting up units in Karnataka and 150 are already functioning. Besides Toyota, some big names include Komtsu, Sony, Toshiba, Nishin and Yakult. "Japan Steel Company, the second largest steel company in Japan, will set up its independent unit next year in Karnataka. Now, it's functioning in collaboration with JSW,'' Tsuchikawa said.
The Japanese Bank for International Cooperation ( JBIC) has extended 44,704 million yen loan to the Bangalore Metro rail project.
After New Delhi, Karnataka is the favourite destination for Japanese in the country -- over 570 of them live in the state, with 560 in Bangalore alone.
Read more: City to be centre for Japanese scholarship exams - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/City-to-be-centre-for-Japanese-scholarship-exams/articleshow/7089614.cms#ixzz18Grdkj00
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Cram school buys out Shane English School
Cram school operator Eikoh Inc. said Friday it has acquired Shane English School to strengthen its English-language education for elementary school children ahead of the planned compulsory teaching of the language for fifth- and sixth-graders.
Eikoh, based in the Kanto region, didn't disclose how much it paid for the acquisition of shares in the four operating companies that run the English school chain, which mainly operates in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Representatives of both Eikoh and Shane English School said the acquisition won't involve personnel cuts or other drastic changes in operations.
Shane English School, a British English school owned by Saxoncourt Holdings, Ltd. based in the British Virgin Islands, operates 199 branches across the Kanto region, of which 46 are franchised.
The four operating companies that run Shane English School are Shane Corporation Japan Inc., Shane Corporation Kita Kanto Inc., Shane Corporation Higashi Kanto Inc. and Shane Corporation Minami Kanto Inc. Besides providing English lessons, Shane offers Chinese classes as well as overseas study programs.
Hiroyuki Otsubo of Eikoh's business management division said one reason for the buyout was Eikoh's desire to strengthen its English-teaching operations in time for the planned implementation in 2011 of English as a compulsory subject in elementary schools.
Otsubo said Eikoh has no plans to change the number of teachers working for Shane English School and its roughly 20,000 students will continue receiving the same services.
Eikoh operates 380 cram schools and has 67,000 students. A press release from Eikoh said that in the Tokyo area, Shane already holds 60 percent of its classes in the same location as classes hosted by Eikoh.
Takehiko Kikuchi, a PR representative for Shane English School, said company employees and teachers received the news calmly.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101120a2.html
Eikoh, based in the Kanto region, didn't disclose how much it paid for the acquisition of shares in the four operating companies that run the English school chain, which mainly operates in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Representatives of both Eikoh and Shane English School said the acquisition won't involve personnel cuts or other drastic changes in operations.
Shane English School, a British English school owned by Saxoncourt Holdings, Ltd. based in the British Virgin Islands, operates 199 branches across the Kanto region, of which 46 are franchised.
The four operating companies that run Shane English School are Shane Corporation Japan Inc., Shane Corporation Kita Kanto Inc., Shane Corporation Higashi Kanto Inc. and Shane Corporation Minami Kanto Inc. Besides providing English lessons, Shane offers Chinese classes as well as overseas study programs.
Hiroyuki Otsubo of Eikoh's business management division said one reason for the buyout was Eikoh's desire to strengthen its English-teaching operations in time for the planned implementation in 2011 of English as a compulsory subject in elementary schools.
Otsubo said Eikoh has no plans to change the number of teachers working for Shane English School and its roughly 20,000 students will continue receiving the same services.
Eikoh operates 380 cram schools and has 67,000 students. A press release from Eikoh said that in the Tokyo area, Shane already holds 60 percent of its classes in the same location as classes hosted by Eikoh.
Takehiko Kikuchi, a PR representative for Shane English School, said company employees and teachers received the news calmly.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101120a2.html
Friday, November 19, 2010
Home Schooling: Fewer Japanese Head to U.S. Universities
Japanese students are increasingly content on staying put in the classroom – at home.
The number of Japanese students who enrolled in U.S. universities dropped a whopping 15% for the 2009 academic year, following a 14% fall off the previous year, according to a report released this week. It was one of the biggest country declines noted.
The Japanese student population in the U.S. declined to 24,842 this year, or approximately 4,400 fewer students compared to 2008, according to an annual study by the Institute of International Education.
The survey results come in stark contrast to the deluge of students sent from Asian neighbors China, India and South Korea. Overall foreign student numbers increased 3% to almost 691,000 for the 2009 school year, driven by a charge of students from China. Chinese student enrollment soared 30% to an estimated 128,000 students, comprising 18% of the total international student population, the highest percentage of any country. India and South Korea followed in suit, making up 15% and 10%, respectively. Japan, on the other hand, accounted for 3.6% of the population slice.
The report’s findings reinforce a growing trend among a younger Japanese generation that is keener on staying home – a similar tenor pervading the work force. It is a troubling concern for Japan in what is yet another symptom of the “Galapagos syndrome” afflicting the country — where a complacent Japan is increasingly looking inward while rival countries are globalizing at a clipped pace. According to the IIE, the number of students from Japan studying in the U.S. has tumbled by nearly half from a decade earlier. The first double digit decrease occurred for the 2003 academic year when the student population fell 11.2% to 40,835.
And Japan likely won’t be shocked by the results. The Japanese media was horrified to realize there would only be one student from Japan in the 2010 freshman class at Harvard University when the Ivy League school’s president visited Japan in March. There were only five Japanese students studying at the university’s undergraduate college as of November 2009, about one-seventh and one-eighth of the number of enrolled Chinese and South Korean students, respectively. Japan’s presence at Columbia University, the fifth leading host college of foreign students, has been shrinking as well. The number of students enrolled in the New York City-based university fell to 237 students in 2009, down from 413 just six years earlier.
Studying abroad is “usually not considered as a legitimate or realistic path – both at the macro-social level and at the individual level,” said Yoshitaka Yamamoto, a member of the U.S. College Alumni Network of Japan, a non-profit organization that informs Japanese students of overseas education options, explaining Japan’s ebbing interest. Mr. Yamamoto, who graduated from Harvard in 2008, said few Japanese high schools “actively encourage” students to look at colleges overseas primarily because high school ratings are based on matriculation statistics to top domestic universities like Tokyo University and Kyoto University.
Then there is the sticky issue of what happens after graduation. Fearful that a diploma from overseas is less valuable compared to one imprinted with the name of a Japanese university parents are weary of how time abroad could handicap their children’s career prospects.
“That is because, presumably, most Japanese employers traditionally did not reward prospective new grad hires with an extensive overseas experience,” said Mr. Yamamoto.
Worried that a lack of exposure to the U.S., a key Japanese ally, will inevitably cloud future views of the relationship, not to mention the reason behind the heavy U.S. military presence in Japan, the government announced a series of initiatives to increase the flow of Japanese students and others sent to the U.S. The new measures aim to launch several thousand exchanges over the next five years, said Prime Minister Naoto Kan following his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation last weekend.
Moves by Japanese companies like Rakuten to adopt a more global mindset may make U.S. universities more attractive, easing post-graduation anxieties, said Mr. Yamamoto.
And Japanese students already studying abroad are eager for more company.
“We very much enjoy having the Japanese students who already are part of the Harvard community, but they told me that they wished more of their compatriots came to study here,” said Harvard University President Drew Faust in an emailed statement to JRT, speaking about her trip to Japan earlier this year “They asked me to carry that message to Japan, and I was happy to do so.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/11/18/home-schooling-fewer-japanese-head-to-us-universities/
The number of Japanese students who enrolled in U.S. universities dropped a whopping 15% for the 2009 academic year, following a 14% fall off the previous year, according to a report released this week. It was one of the biggest country declines noted.
The Japanese student population in the U.S. declined to 24,842 this year, or approximately 4,400 fewer students compared to 2008, according to an annual study by the Institute of International Education.
The survey results come in stark contrast to the deluge of students sent from Asian neighbors China, India and South Korea. Overall foreign student numbers increased 3% to almost 691,000 for the 2009 school year, driven by a charge of students from China. Chinese student enrollment soared 30% to an estimated 128,000 students, comprising 18% of the total international student population, the highest percentage of any country. India and South Korea followed in suit, making up 15% and 10%, respectively. Japan, on the other hand, accounted for 3.6% of the population slice.
The report’s findings reinforce a growing trend among a younger Japanese generation that is keener on staying home – a similar tenor pervading the work force. It is a troubling concern for Japan in what is yet another symptom of the “Galapagos syndrome” afflicting the country — where a complacent Japan is increasingly looking inward while rival countries are globalizing at a clipped pace. According to the IIE, the number of students from Japan studying in the U.S. has tumbled by nearly half from a decade earlier. The first double digit decrease occurred for the 2003 academic year when the student population fell 11.2% to 40,835.
And Japan likely won’t be shocked by the results. The Japanese media was horrified to realize there would only be one student from Japan in the 2010 freshman class at Harvard University when the Ivy League school’s president visited Japan in March. There were only five Japanese students studying at the university’s undergraduate college as of November 2009, about one-seventh and one-eighth of the number of enrolled Chinese and South Korean students, respectively. Japan’s presence at Columbia University, the fifth leading host college of foreign students, has been shrinking as well. The number of students enrolled in the New York City-based university fell to 237 students in 2009, down from 413 just six years earlier.
Studying abroad is “usually not considered as a legitimate or realistic path – both at the macro-social level and at the individual level,” said Yoshitaka Yamamoto, a member of the U.S. College Alumni Network of Japan, a non-profit organization that informs Japanese students of overseas education options, explaining Japan’s ebbing interest. Mr. Yamamoto, who graduated from Harvard in 2008, said few Japanese high schools “actively encourage” students to look at colleges overseas primarily because high school ratings are based on matriculation statistics to top domestic universities like Tokyo University and Kyoto University.
Then there is the sticky issue of what happens after graduation. Fearful that a diploma from overseas is less valuable compared to one imprinted with the name of a Japanese university parents are weary of how time abroad could handicap their children’s career prospects.
“That is because, presumably, most Japanese employers traditionally did not reward prospective new grad hires with an extensive overseas experience,” said Mr. Yamamoto.
Worried that a lack of exposure to the U.S., a key Japanese ally, will inevitably cloud future views of the relationship, not to mention the reason behind the heavy U.S. military presence in Japan, the government announced a series of initiatives to increase the flow of Japanese students and others sent to the U.S. The new measures aim to launch several thousand exchanges over the next five years, said Prime Minister Naoto Kan following his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation last weekend.
Moves by Japanese companies like Rakuten to adopt a more global mindset may make U.S. universities more attractive, easing post-graduation anxieties, said Mr. Yamamoto.
And Japanese students already studying abroad are eager for more company.
“We very much enjoy having the Japanese students who already are part of the Harvard community, but they told me that they wished more of their compatriots came to study here,” said Harvard University President Drew Faust in an emailed statement to JRT, speaking about her trip to Japan earlier this year “They asked me to carry that message to Japan, and I was happy to do so.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/11/18/home-schooling-fewer-japanese-head-to-us-universities/
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
FamilyMart a convenient link for Asians eyeing Japan studies
FamilyMart Co., through its network of convenience store outlets in Asia, has begun offering help to foreign students looking to study in Japan.
In cooperation with Kawaijuku Educational Institution, a major prep school chain that offers university entrance exam preparation, and travel agency JTB Corp., FamilyMart will provide free newspapers at its overseas stores containing information on studying in Japan.
The new service will also offer assistance in obtaining visas and finding a place to live and part-time jobs in Japan. The company operates thousands of stores in Asia.
According to a survey of foreign students in Japan by 52school.com Corp., a member of the Kawaijuku group, many students found it hard to obtain information on universities and other schools in Japan matching their areas of study. They also had trouble applying to Japanese schools and finding a place to live upon arrival.
To help address such problems, FamilyMart started distributing a free newspaper with information on study in Japan at its convenience stores in Taiwan in mid-September. Taiwan has more than 2,500 FamilyMart stores.
Customers can pick up school application forms at the stores and receive help on how to apply. JTB will also assist students applying for student visas and make other arrangements, such as accommodations.
FamilyMart will help students get part-time jobs at its domestic stores.
According to Japan Student Services Organization, as of May 2009, about 133,000 foreign students were enrolled at Japanese four-year undergraduate schools, two-year junior colleges, graduate schools and other schools. Many were from Asian countries, including China, South Korea and Taiwan.
Based on a plan advocated in 2008 by then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to increase the number of foreign students in Japan to 300,000, the government hopes to attract more students from overseas. Government efforts include a project to improve the international competitiveness of Japan's institutions of higher education.
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201010250291.html
In cooperation with Kawaijuku Educational Institution, a major prep school chain that offers university entrance exam preparation, and travel agency JTB Corp., FamilyMart will provide free newspapers at its overseas stores containing information on studying in Japan.
The new service will also offer assistance in obtaining visas and finding a place to live and part-time jobs in Japan. The company operates thousands of stores in Asia.
According to a survey of foreign students in Japan by 52school.com Corp., a member of the Kawaijuku group, many students found it hard to obtain information on universities and other schools in Japan matching their areas of study. They also had trouble applying to Japanese schools and finding a place to live upon arrival.
To help address such problems, FamilyMart started distributing a free newspaper with information on study in Japan at its convenience stores in Taiwan in mid-September. Taiwan has more than 2,500 FamilyMart stores.
Customers can pick up school application forms at the stores and receive help on how to apply. JTB will also assist students applying for student visas and make other arrangements, such as accommodations.
FamilyMart will help students get part-time jobs at its domestic stores.
According to Japan Student Services Organization, as of May 2009, about 133,000 foreign students were enrolled at Japanese four-year undergraduate schools, two-year junior colleges, graduate schools and other schools. Many were from Asian countries, including China, South Korea and Taiwan.
Based on a plan advocated in 2008 by then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to increase the number of foreign students in Japan to 300,000, the government hopes to attract more students from overseas. Government efforts include a project to improve the international competitiveness of Japan's institutions of higher education.
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201010250291.html
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
More foreign students seeking work in Japan as companies pursue global talent
The number of foreign students looking for jobs in Japan is increasing as companies go global and seek more overseas workers -- providing tougher competition for Japanese students amid the ongoing economic downturn.
On Oct. 17 the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) held a job-seeking preparation seminar for overseas students. A total of 517 students from China, South Korea, Bangladesh and other countries took part -- a turnout that surpassed organizers' expectations. Many of the participants were from emerging Asian countries experiencing rapid economic growth, but wanted to work in Japan more than any other country.
"In China, the employment rate is not necessarily better than in Japan," said Ling Yi, a 27-year-old student from Shanghai who is in his first year of study in a postgraduate course at Kobe University. "The economic downturn and competition are harsh, but I want to find work in Japan."
Another 24-year-old participant from Vietnam, a third-year student at Osaka University, was also keen to work in Japan.
"Vietnam is like Japan 30 years ago. I want to pass on Japan's service system to Vietnam," the student said.
According to JASSO figures, there were 132,720 foreign students in Japan as of May 2009 -- a record high. The number of foreign students seeking jobs at Japanese companies has also been rising each year, reaching 11,040 in 2008.
At the same time Japanese companies have a keen eye on overseas students. About half of the approximately 600 new graduates that Fast Retailing Co., the operator of the Uniqlo chain, plans to take on in 2011 are foreigners. Companies such as Panasonic and Rakuten are also actively hiring personnel from overseas.
Sharp Chairman Katsuhiko Machida said that the talent of workers was a factor in the trend.
"The reason that employment of students from overseas is increasing and regular employment of Japanese is decreasing is a matter of ability," he said.
Mainichi Communications, a major employment information provider, said Japanese students needed to realize the gravity of the situation.
"Companies are cutting back on employment and it's precisely because of this that they are looking at the qualities of the students regardless of their nationalities. Japanese students need a sense of crisis," a company representative said.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20101022p2a00m0na022000c.html
On Oct. 17 the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) held a job-seeking preparation seminar for overseas students. A total of 517 students from China, South Korea, Bangladesh and other countries took part -- a turnout that surpassed organizers' expectations. Many of the participants were from emerging Asian countries experiencing rapid economic growth, but wanted to work in Japan more than any other country.
"In China, the employment rate is not necessarily better than in Japan," said Ling Yi, a 27-year-old student from Shanghai who is in his first year of study in a postgraduate course at Kobe University. "The economic downturn and competition are harsh, but I want to find work in Japan."
Another 24-year-old participant from Vietnam, a third-year student at Osaka University, was also keen to work in Japan.
"Vietnam is like Japan 30 years ago. I want to pass on Japan's service system to Vietnam," the student said.
According to JASSO figures, there were 132,720 foreign students in Japan as of May 2009 -- a record high. The number of foreign students seeking jobs at Japanese companies has also been rising each year, reaching 11,040 in 2008.
At the same time Japanese companies have a keen eye on overseas students. About half of the approximately 600 new graduates that Fast Retailing Co., the operator of the Uniqlo chain, plans to take on in 2011 are foreigners. Companies such as Panasonic and Rakuten are also actively hiring personnel from overseas.
Sharp Chairman Katsuhiko Machida said that the talent of workers was a factor in the trend.
"The reason that employment of students from overseas is increasing and regular employment of Japanese is decreasing is a matter of ability," he said.
Mainichi Communications, a major employment information provider, said Japanese students needed to realize the gravity of the situation.
"Companies are cutting back on employment and it's precisely because of this that they are looking at the qualities of the students regardless of their nationalities. Japanese students need a sense of crisis," a company representative said.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20101022p2a00m0na022000c.html
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Study abroad key to Japan's future
The lack of student interest in studying abroad is casting a shadow over the future of this quickly graying nation, according to a noted German business professor.
"I can't overemphasize the importance of studying abroad," David Bach, the 35-year-old dean of programs at the IE Business School in Madrid, said in a recent interview with The Japan Times.
"It's incredibly important for Japan to have global managers. I think a global management education experience is a very important contribution to that, knowing people from all over the world, learning from them and learning a foreign language."
Bach, who was in Tokyo earlier this month to recruit students and meet alumni, said that because the Japanese market is bound to shrink due to its aging and shrinking population, Japan must bolster its international business expertise if it is to remain a wealthy nation.
"That means understanding the world. And earlier generations of Japanese managers did that very well," Bach said. "They went to Europe, they went to the U.S., starting in the '50s and the '60s, learning and acquiring the skills, understanding the customers and going out in full force."
It's important for succeeding generations to maintain this spirit in light of tremendous new opportunities in emerging markets, including India, Brazil and China, said Bach, a professor of strategic management.
Founded in 1973, the IE Business School is one of the leading institutions of its kind in the world and has a diverse student body. Often listed among the world's top 20 MBA programs by the Financial Times and The Economist, 90 percent of the students in its English MBA programs come from abroad, covering more than 70 different countries.
"You'll not get that diversity anywhere else. In the United States, at the most international diverse MBA program you might have 30 percent maybe 35 percent international students. Not 90 percent," Bach said.
The school offers each course in both English and Spanish. Of the approximately 700 students in its one-year MBA program, about 500 opt for the English classes, according to the professor.
"The leading European programs, such as ours, INSEAD (in France) and IMD (in Switzerland) are increasingly one-year programs. They are not two-year programs," he said, referring to the MBA programs in the U.S. "So, essentially, with half the time, with a lot more diversity, you can get the same degree."
Bach graduated from Yale University and received his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.
Bach, who also studied political science outside his own country, said it's very important to have the experience of living abroad and interacting with the people there.
"It provides you with ways to critically assess your own country and your own experience. Until you are in a foreign country, you take everything for granted," Bach said. "Comparison is incredibly important when it comes to gaining real insight."
Asked about the impression of Japanese students, Bach said they are smart and well-prepared. "The Japanese students add a lot to our program."
The knowledge of Japanese students, who have grown up in a Japanese political economy and who understand the way Japanese corporate governance works, is very important to the MBA programs, he said. "Japanese students contribute something in our discussions that others cannot contribute."
The school enrolls about 10 to 15 Japanese students every year. Although the numbers have dropped off in the past, they are picking up again and the school hopes more will apply, Bach said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101019f1.html
"I can't overemphasize the importance of studying abroad," David Bach, the 35-year-old dean of programs at the IE Business School in Madrid, said in a recent interview with The Japan Times.
"It's incredibly important for Japan to have global managers. I think a global management education experience is a very important contribution to that, knowing people from all over the world, learning from them and learning a foreign language."
Bach, who was in Tokyo earlier this month to recruit students and meet alumni, said that because the Japanese market is bound to shrink due to its aging and shrinking population, Japan must bolster its international business expertise if it is to remain a wealthy nation.
"That means understanding the world. And earlier generations of Japanese managers did that very well," Bach said. "They went to Europe, they went to the U.S., starting in the '50s and the '60s, learning and acquiring the skills, understanding the customers and going out in full force."
It's important for succeeding generations to maintain this spirit in light of tremendous new opportunities in emerging markets, including India, Brazil and China, said Bach, a professor of strategic management.
Founded in 1973, the IE Business School is one of the leading institutions of its kind in the world and has a diverse student body. Often listed among the world's top 20 MBA programs by the Financial Times and The Economist, 90 percent of the students in its English MBA programs come from abroad, covering more than 70 different countries.
"You'll not get that diversity anywhere else. In the United States, at the most international diverse MBA program you might have 30 percent maybe 35 percent international students. Not 90 percent," Bach said.
The school offers each course in both English and Spanish. Of the approximately 700 students in its one-year MBA program, about 500 opt for the English classes, according to the professor.
"The leading European programs, such as ours, INSEAD (in France) and IMD (in Switzerland) are increasingly one-year programs. They are not two-year programs," he said, referring to the MBA programs in the U.S. "So, essentially, with half the time, with a lot more diversity, you can get the same degree."
Bach graduated from Yale University and received his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.
Bach, who also studied political science outside his own country, said it's very important to have the experience of living abroad and interacting with the people there.
"It provides you with ways to critically assess your own country and your own experience. Until you are in a foreign country, you take everything for granted," Bach said. "Comparison is incredibly important when it comes to gaining real insight."
Asked about the impression of Japanese students, Bach said they are smart and well-prepared. "The Japanese students add a lot to our program."
The knowledge of Japanese students, who have grown up in a Japanese political economy and who understand the way Japanese corporate governance works, is very important to the MBA programs, he said. "Japanese students contribute something in our discussions that others cannot contribute."
The school enrolls about 10 to 15 Japanese students every year. Although the numbers have dropped off in the past, they are picking up again and the school hopes more will apply, Bach said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101019f1.html
Sunday, October 17, 2010
ELS plans language centres on campus
A SUBSIDIARY of language teaching giant Berlitz is planning to establish English teaching schools for foreign students at several Australian universities.
ELS has almost 50 schools with 15,000 students in the US and plans to expand into Australia and Canada.
ELS offers its own certificate of English proficiency, which competes with the widely accepted IELTS and TOEFL qualifications.
More than 600 US universities use the ELS 112 certification and 46 of them have an ELS language school on campus. The company also has a network of 1200 recruiting agents across the world looking for students who want to study abroad.
The company has been eyeing the strong growth in international student numbers in Australia, which it sees, along with Canada, as the next frontier. It has begun talks with several Australian universities.
ELS director of public relations Tadashi Okamura told the HES the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was predicting 7.2 per cent annual growth in foreign student numbers worldwide, with China, South Korea and Saudi Arabia the big growth areas.
"We will see more and more opportunity in this area, especially in China," he said.
"A lot of people want to go to university, but because of the [relatively small] number of universities in China, they have to look for another country to study in.
"We have decided to expand this service not only in the US but to Australia and also Canada. We want to establish a network of universities in English-speaking countries."
He said one Australian university, which he declined to name, had already accepted the ELS 112 certificate of proficiency and the company was hoping this breakthrough would lead to broad acceptance across the sector.
Mr Okamura said ELS had already been in contact with the federal government about its intentions to expand into Australia and was pleased with the support it received.
Twenty per cent of undergraduate students in Australia are international students, compared with 3 per cent in Japan, he said.
"Australia is very, very active in recruiting international students. This is a national government policy to increase the number of international students, so they [the federal government] are very keen to work with us."
The company's pitch to universities is to deliver them foreign students with guaranteed English competency, allowing the universities to focus on delivering undergraduate and postgraduate courses and research.
Its pitch to students is about continuity: they can do their English training and degree in the same place.
"For the students we provide intensive English training, provide accommodation and help in applying to universities," Mr Okamura said.
ELS is aiming to establish language centres at as many universities as possible, depending on demand and student numbers. Its US operation has one language school for every 13 universities that accept its ELS 112 certification.
Like Berlitz, ELS is part of the publicly listed Benesse Group. The group's core business has been in educational products and services in Japan, but with the country's fertility rate dwindling, it has advanced into English teaching abroad through its acquisition of Berlitz and ELS.
Benesse, with interests in nursing homes in Japan, appears to have deep pockets to fund the expansion.
ELS has almost 50 schools with 15,000 students in the US and plans to expand into Australia and Canada.
ELS offers its own certificate of English proficiency, which competes with the widely accepted IELTS and TOEFL qualifications.
More than 600 US universities use the ELS 112 certification and 46 of them have an ELS language school on campus. The company also has a network of 1200 recruiting agents across the world looking for students who want to study abroad.
The company has been eyeing the strong growth in international student numbers in Australia, which it sees, along with Canada, as the next frontier. It has begun talks with several Australian universities.
ELS director of public relations Tadashi Okamura told the HES the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was predicting 7.2 per cent annual growth in foreign student numbers worldwide, with China, South Korea and Saudi Arabia the big growth areas.
"We will see more and more opportunity in this area, especially in China," he said.
"A lot of people want to go to university, but because of the [relatively small] number of universities in China, they have to look for another country to study in.
"We have decided to expand this service not only in the US but to Australia and also Canada. We want to establish a network of universities in English-speaking countries."
He said one Australian university, which he declined to name, had already accepted the ELS 112 certificate of proficiency and the company was hoping this breakthrough would lead to broad acceptance across the sector.
Mr Okamura said ELS had already been in contact with the federal government about its intentions to expand into Australia and was pleased with the support it received.
Twenty per cent of undergraduate students in Australia are international students, compared with 3 per cent in Japan, he said.
"Australia is very, very active in recruiting international students. This is a national government policy to increase the number of international students, so they [the federal government] are very keen to work with us."
The company's pitch to universities is to deliver them foreign students with guaranteed English competency, allowing the universities to focus on delivering undergraduate and postgraduate courses and research.
Its pitch to students is about continuity: they can do their English training and degree in the same place.
"For the students we provide intensive English training, provide accommodation and help in applying to universities," Mr Okamura said.
ELS is aiming to establish language centres at as many universities as possible, depending on demand and student numbers. Its US operation has one language school for every 13 universities that accept its ELS 112 certification.
Like Berlitz, ELS is part of the publicly listed Benesse Group. The group's core business has been in educational products and services in Japan, but with the country's fertility rate dwindling, it has advanced into English teaching abroad through its acquisition of Berlitz and ELS.
Benesse, with interests in nursing homes in Japan, appears to have deep pockets to fund the expansion.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Universities looking to go global
Fostering global human resources seems all the rage these days and several Japanese universities are jumping in, opening their doors to foreign students who aren't proficient in Japanese in a bid to snatch top-class talent from around the world.
While the institutions prepare to make their programs attractive to foreign students, university officials say the private sector should also open up so these graduates will stay in Japan and embark on solid career paths.
Under the Global 30 project initiated by the education ministry last year, by the end of fiscal 2013 more than 130 undergraduate and graduate courses conducted completely in English will be launched at 13 universities acting as Japan's "global education hubs."
The schools, selected by the education ministry, include the University of Tokyo and Waseda, Keio, Meiji and Nagoya universities. Global 30 is one of the measures launched to achieve a goal set out in 2008 by then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to attract 300,000 foreign students a year by 2020.
Through this project alone, the number of foreign students at the 13 universities should reach 50,000 by fiscal 2020, a ministry report says. Another aim of Global 30 is to reverse the decline in Japanese studying abroad, raising it to 10,000 from 4,000 now.
The program will give each university subsidies of between ¥200 million and ¥400 million a year until fiscal 2013, and they are expected to make great strides in becoming more international.
Efforts include establishing at least one "taught-in-English" course in both the undergraduate and graduate levels, setting up one-stop information offices overseas, providing foreign students opportunities to learn Japanese language and culture, and increasing the number of foreign teachers.
"This is a big chance," said Yoshihito Watanabe, vice president of Nagoya University. "We had to internationalize regardless of the launch of Global 30. But now, with the funds from the government, we can take active steps" to make Japanese campuses more international.
Most of the universities have spent the last year preparing, so the majority of the new courses are scheduled to kick off this fall and over the next two academic years.
For example, Waseda University opened four undergraduate and five graduate English-only courses Tuesday and is scheduled to open another undergraduate course in 2011 and a graduate course in 2012.
Nagoya University is scheduled to start five undergraduate and six graduate courses in October 2011, aiming to raise its foreign enrollment, which was 1,214 in 2008, to 3,000 by the end of fiscal 2020.
Faculty members are promoting the school and recruiting students overseas, including in the United States, Europe, Australia, Mongolia and Singapore, visiting top high schools and setting up booths at major international education events, Watanabe said.
While the government and the universities may have high hopes for luring top-class foreign talent, the project, there are plenty of hurdles, experts say.
One concern is whether the idea is truly realistic.
"We are now doing the best we can. . . . Some faculty question whether foreign students will actually choose to study in a country where English is not the first language," Watanabe said. "But we will not accept students who aren't qualified just so we can fill the seats we have prepared."
Another university official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the schools will bear up even if only about 20 percent of the seats are filled the first year.
"The important thing is to provide high-quality education and build up its reputation. Then, hopefully, many (top-class) students will come forward through word of mouth," the official said.
Etsuko Katsu, vice president of Meiji University, said one of the keys to attracting foreign students is to provide something extra in the curriculum and to put an emphasis on Japan.
As an attempt, Meiji is scheduled to start an undergraduate course next year on modern Japanese culture, focusing on manga, "anime," video games and other aspects of the "Cool Japan" fad the government has been promoting overseas.
Katsu also stressed that the ultimate goal of the plan is to actually improve the level of Japanese research, not foreign enrollment. By raising the academic level, many first-class students will come naturally, she said.
Meanwhile, some critics have raised doubts about whether the private sector, which is where the demand for global students is coming from, will have jobs ready for them.
Shigeharu Kato, deputy director general of the Higher Education Bureau at the education ministry, said at a joint forum last month in Tokyo that it is critical to collaborate with the private sector.
"Cooperation between universities and business is vital" to Global 30's end results, Kato said.
The Global 30 University-Business Joint Forum brought together officials from the education and economy ministries, universities and corporations to exchange views on the globalization of higher education in Japan.
Executives from Rakuten Inc. and Sony Corp. at the forum expressed a strong desire to recruit first-class international students, but observers say most companies are still reluctant to follow suit.
Figures also show that there aren't enough jobs for foreign students.
According to a 2007 survey by the Japan Students Service Organization of privately funded international students attending Japanese universities, 61.3 percent said they would like to get a job in Japan. But only 30.6 percent of all foreign students who graduated in 2007 said they found a job in this country.
In the same year, 96.3 percent of Japanese undergraduate students looking for a job secured employment, according to the labor ministry.
"Top executives at large corporations say they will hire foreign students without Japanese-language proficiency, only if they are fluent in English and have excelled at the academic level. But in reality, they don't," said Watanabe of Nagoya University. "When such (top-class) students apply, the personnel division says they should have scored at least Level 2 on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in order to have smooth communications."
Although all 13 schools will be offering Japanese classes for international students, Japanese corporations must realize they have to change their attitude and be more flexible about hiring foreign talent, Meiji University's Katsu said.
"(Japanese) corporations have to change. Unless the whole society changes, Japan can't survive in the globalized world," she said.
On top of these challenges, Global 30 is already suffering from a serious problem in its first year. Funding for the project was cut by around 20 percent through the "shiwake" budget screening process started last year by the Democratic Party of Japan-led government.
Another 17 core universities are supposed to be selected by 2013 to bring the total to 30, as the name of the project says, but it is likely to remain at 13 because of budget cuts, said Kazuki Fukuda, deputy director of the education ministry's Higher Education Bureau.
Watanabe said the budget cut is having a big impact but that Nagoya University will stick to its original plan.
"There are many factors in accepting foreign students. It is true that we want talented students from overseas, but I also hope the presence of ambitious and aggressive students will stimulate Japanese students, who tend to be inward-looking," he said, pointing out that fewer Japanese students are seeking to study overseas.
"By increasing the number of such foreign students (on campus), domestic students are forced to use English, and through creating (an international) environment, I think Japanese students will turn their eyes to the outside world," he said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100923f1.html
While the institutions prepare to make their programs attractive to foreign students, university officials say the private sector should also open up so these graduates will stay in Japan and embark on solid career paths.
Under the Global 30 project initiated by the education ministry last year, by the end of fiscal 2013 more than 130 undergraduate and graduate courses conducted completely in English will be launched at 13 universities acting as Japan's "global education hubs."
The schools, selected by the education ministry, include the University of Tokyo and Waseda, Keio, Meiji and Nagoya universities. Global 30 is one of the measures launched to achieve a goal set out in 2008 by then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to attract 300,000 foreign students a year by 2020.
Through this project alone, the number of foreign students at the 13 universities should reach 50,000 by fiscal 2020, a ministry report says. Another aim of Global 30 is to reverse the decline in Japanese studying abroad, raising it to 10,000 from 4,000 now.
The program will give each university subsidies of between ¥200 million and ¥400 million a year until fiscal 2013, and they are expected to make great strides in becoming more international.
Efforts include establishing at least one "taught-in-English" course in both the undergraduate and graduate levels, setting up one-stop information offices overseas, providing foreign students opportunities to learn Japanese language and culture, and increasing the number of foreign teachers.
"This is a big chance," said Yoshihito Watanabe, vice president of Nagoya University. "We had to internationalize regardless of the launch of Global 30. But now, with the funds from the government, we can take active steps" to make Japanese campuses more international.
Most of the universities have spent the last year preparing, so the majority of the new courses are scheduled to kick off this fall and over the next two academic years.
For example, Waseda University opened four undergraduate and five graduate English-only courses Tuesday and is scheduled to open another undergraduate course in 2011 and a graduate course in 2012.
Nagoya University is scheduled to start five undergraduate and six graduate courses in October 2011, aiming to raise its foreign enrollment, which was 1,214 in 2008, to 3,000 by the end of fiscal 2020.
Faculty members are promoting the school and recruiting students overseas, including in the United States, Europe, Australia, Mongolia and Singapore, visiting top high schools and setting up booths at major international education events, Watanabe said.
While the government and the universities may have high hopes for luring top-class foreign talent, the project, there are plenty of hurdles, experts say.
One concern is whether the idea is truly realistic.
"We are now doing the best we can. . . . Some faculty question whether foreign students will actually choose to study in a country where English is not the first language," Watanabe said. "But we will not accept students who aren't qualified just so we can fill the seats we have prepared."
Another university official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the schools will bear up even if only about 20 percent of the seats are filled the first year.
"The important thing is to provide high-quality education and build up its reputation. Then, hopefully, many (top-class) students will come forward through word of mouth," the official said.
Etsuko Katsu, vice president of Meiji University, said one of the keys to attracting foreign students is to provide something extra in the curriculum and to put an emphasis on Japan.
As an attempt, Meiji is scheduled to start an undergraduate course next year on modern Japanese culture, focusing on manga, "anime," video games and other aspects of the "Cool Japan" fad the government has been promoting overseas.
Katsu also stressed that the ultimate goal of the plan is to actually improve the level of Japanese research, not foreign enrollment. By raising the academic level, many first-class students will come naturally, she said.
Meanwhile, some critics have raised doubts about whether the private sector, which is where the demand for global students is coming from, will have jobs ready for them.
Shigeharu Kato, deputy director general of the Higher Education Bureau at the education ministry, said at a joint forum last month in Tokyo that it is critical to collaborate with the private sector.
"Cooperation between universities and business is vital" to Global 30's end results, Kato said.
The Global 30 University-Business Joint Forum brought together officials from the education and economy ministries, universities and corporations to exchange views on the globalization of higher education in Japan.
Executives from Rakuten Inc. and Sony Corp. at the forum expressed a strong desire to recruit first-class international students, but observers say most companies are still reluctant to follow suit.
Figures also show that there aren't enough jobs for foreign students.
According to a 2007 survey by the Japan Students Service Organization of privately funded international students attending Japanese universities, 61.3 percent said they would like to get a job in Japan. But only 30.6 percent of all foreign students who graduated in 2007 said they found a job in this country.
In the same year, 96.3 percent of Japanese undergraduate students looking for a job secured employment, according to the labor ministry.
"Top executives at large corporations say they will hire foreign students without Japanese-language proficiency, only if they are fluent in English and have excelled at the academic level. But in reality, they don't," said Watanabe of Nagoya University. "When such (top-class) students apply, the personnel division says they should have scored at least Level 2 on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in order to have smooth communications."
Although all 13 schools will be offering Japanese classes for international students, Japanese corporations must realize they have to change their attitude and be more flexible about hiring foreign talent, Meiji University's Katsu said.
"(Japanese) corporations have to change. Unless the whole society changes, Japan can't survive in the globalized world," she said.
On top of these challenges, Global 30 is already suffering from a serious problem in its first year. Funding for the project was cut by around 20 percent through the "shiwake" budget screening process started last year by the Democratic Party of Japan-led government.
Another 17 core universities are supposed to be selected by 2013 to bring the total to 30, as the name of the project says, but it is likely to remain at 13 because of budget cuts, said Kazuki Fukuda, deputy director of the education ministry's Higher Education Bureau.
Watanabe said the budget cut is having a big impact but that Nagoya University will stick to its original plan.
"There are many factors in accepting foreign students. It is true that we want talented students from overseas, but I also hope the presence of ambitious and aggressive students will stimulate Japanese students, who tend to be inward-looking," he said, pointing out that fewer Japanese students are seeking to study overseas.
"By increasing the number of such foreign students (on campus), domestic students are forced to use English, and through creating (an international) environment, I think Japanese students will turn their eyes to the outside world," he said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100923f1.html
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Japan's Globalization Project Stalls as Some Criticize Focus on Elite Universities
As Japan watchers warn that the island nation is becoming more insular, the government's newest bid to internationalize Japan's stuffy higher-education system—the misnamed Global 30—is off to a wobbly start.
The goal was to recruit 30 universities and support their internationalization efforts. Beginning last year on a 3.2-billion-yen, or about $38-million, budget, the project aims to significantly increase the number of foreign students in the country and Japanese students studying abroad.
But the education ministry's tough selection criteria mean that just 13 elite universities have been chosen so far. Government cuts have already shaved up to 30 percent from the budget allocated to each institution. And the remaining 17 spots open to universities are unlikely to be filled, according to two administrators at universities in the exclusive club.
"It's disappointing," says Go Yoshida, a spokesman for the Office of International Strategic Planning at Nagoya University, one of the 13 selectees. "Quite honestly, Japan is late in the game of globalization in higher education. But the government's left hand doesn't know what its right hand is doing."
The stakes for this island nation are high. After more than two decades and billions of yen in scholarships, fewer than 4 percent of Japan's university students come from abroad—133,000, well below China, with 223,000, and the United States with 672,000. Just 5 percent of its 353,000 university teachers are foreign, according to ministry of education statistics. Most of those teach English.
At the opposite end of the education pendulum, students here are increasingly staying home: Japanese undergraduate enrollment in American universities has plummeted by more than half since 2000, estimates the ministry. Japanese student enrollment in European institutions is also down.
"Frankly, in my view Japan is going backwards," says Ian de Stains, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and one of many observers who believe that despite government rhetoric about internationalization, Japan is becoming more isolationist. "The big danger is that Japan will lose touch and fail to compete globally."
South Korea, with less than half Japan's population, sends twice as many students to the United States. At some American universities, such as Cornell, the number of Japanese students is behind not just the number from China, India, and South Korea, but even from Thailand and tiny Singapore. "The drop is without precedent," says Mark Selden, a senior fellow at Cornell's East Asia program.
Global 30 is supposed to partly remedy those ills, helping Japan reach a government goal of 300,000 foreign students by 2020, while sending the same number of Japanese students abroad.
Participating universities receive an annual grant of 200-400 million yen (between $2.4-million and $4.8-million) annually for five years to employ foreign faculty members and English-speaking support staff, and to create new all-English undergraduate courses. Each university is also required to set up offices outside Japan, both to recruit locally and help Japanese students study in other countries.
Japan's education ministry hopes that its modest commitment will help transform the country's academic landscape by luring more international students and generating more collaboration between foreign and Japanese professors.
"We think those universities will set an example for other colleges by leading with good practice," says Shigeharu Kato, deputy director of the Higher Education Bureau at the ministry. "This practice will then diffuse to other colleges around the country."
With Japan's population falling and dozens of private colleges facing bankruptcy, the government has little choice but to look beyond the country's borders. Education specialists agree that tripling the intake of foreign students will expose their Japanese counterparts to the world, and could help create a cadre of foreign academics who studied in Japan.
But while praising the Global 30 program, some are questioning its focus on elite universities. Priority was given to large institutions with proven research capacity, such as the University of Tokyo and the private Waseda University, says Akiyoshi Yonezawa, an associate professor at the Center for the Advancement of Higher Education in Tohoku University—another of the 13 selected institutions.
Tough Demands
"Smaller and midsized institutions, despite satisfying many of the strong international criteria, were eliminated from the selection process," he says. He adds that some of the country's best universities, such as the Tokyo Institute of Technology, were driven away from the program by its demands, which included raising the percentage of international students to 20 percent and the share of international professors to 10 percent by 2020.
Paul Snowden, dean of Waseda's School of International Liberal Studies, says that institutions that have achieved success attracting international students should have been rewarded for their efforts but instead were disqualified for having already met the ministry's goals.
Half of the students at Mr. Snowden's institution are from abroad, he says. But despite this accomplishment, three other Waseda faculties—the departments of political science; economics, science, and engineering; and social sciences — were selected for the Global 30.
"It was flattering, but disappointing, that basically our curriculum had been imitated by the ministry and disseminated to other places, but we weren't allowed any of the money," Mr. Snowden says.
He questions whether the ratio the School of International Liberal Studies has achieved can be replicated by others. "I'm pretty sure that extreme case is not going to be achieved by more than a handful of institutions in Japan, though."
Despite the concerns about the new program, Mr. Kato of the education ministry says Global 30 is now taking off and is "almost at cruising altitude." And there are some signs to support that.
Nagoya University's Mr. Yoshida says the roughly $3.5-million it received has helped the institution raise its intake of foreign undergraduate and graduate students by 170, and open new offices in Germany and Uzbekistan.
Yet the colleges and the ministry have been frustrated by cost cutting ordered by the Democratic Party of Japan government, which took power last year just after Global 30 was approved. Nagoya's government support, for example, will shrink by 27 percent in its next fiscal year, which starts in April. "We're just starting to launch this and the cuts have come. And we fear more are due," says Mr. Yoshida.
Some believe that the government may be switching priorities to a separate effort called Campus Asia, which is intended to harmonize China, Japan, and South Korea's colleges and ultimately keep more students in the region. A working group from each of the countries is set to meet in China this year, with the project officially starting in April.
Little Fiscal Legroom
With the worst public debt in the industrialized world—900 trillion yen, or $10.6-trillion—Japan has much less fiscal legroom than its competitors. That is likely to mean careful scrutiny of all education spending and a demand that colleges and the education ministry deliver more bang for the government's buck.
Even if this year's cuts were reversed and the government met its financial commitments to Global 30, Mr. Yonezawa of Tohoku University and others doubt that the student targets are attainable without major reform outside the education system. "It is impossible to achieve this sort of internationalization only with Global 30," he says, adding that Japan needs to focus on its second- and third-tier colleges. He also urges major changes in the labor markets and among Japan's conservative companies to give foreign graduates an incentive to stay and work in the country.
Despite these looming issues, Waseda's Mr. Snowden is among many who believe that Japan is still in the race. "Japan is indeed late in the game. But with much interest from Korea and China, I think it can find a new role as an international education base" within the region.
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Slow-Start-for-Japans/124346/
The goal was to recruit 30 universities and support their internationalization efforts. Beginning last year on a 3.2-billion-yen, or about $38-million, budget, the project aims to significantly increase the number of foreign students in the country and Japanese students studying abroad.
But the education ministry's tough selection criteria mean that just 13 elite universities have been chosen so far. Government cuts have already shaved up to 30 percent from the budget allocated to each institution. And the remaining 17 spots open to universities are unlikely to be filled, according to two administrators at universities in the exclusive club.
"It's disappointing," says Go Yoshida, a spokesman for the Office of International Strategic Planning at Nagoya University, one of the 13 selectees. "Quite honestly, Japan is late in the game of globalization in higher education. But the government's left hand doesn't know what its right hand is doing."
The stakes for this island nation are high. After more than two decades and billions of yen in scholarships, fewer than 4 percent of Japan's university students come from abroad—133,000, well below China, with 223,000, and the United States with 672,000. Just 5 percent of its 353,000 university teachers are foreign, according to ministry of education statistics. Most of those teach English.
At the opposite end of the education pendulum, students here are increasingly staying home: Japanese undergraduate enrollment in American universities has plummeted by more than half since 2000, estimates the ministry. Japanese student enrollment in European institutions is also down.
"Frankly, in my view Japan is going backwards," says Ian de Stains, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and one of many observers who believe that despite government rhetoric about internationalization, Japan is becoming more isolationist. "The big danger is that Japan will lose touch and fail to compete globally."
South Korea, with less than half Japan's population, sends twice as many students to the United States. At some American universities, such as Cornell, the number of Japanese students is behind not just the number from China, India, and South Korea, but even from Thailand and tiny Singapore. "The drop is without precedent," says Mark Selden, a senior fellow at Cornell's East Asia program.
Global 30 is supposed to partly remedy those ills, helping Japan reach a government goal of 300,000 foreign students by 2020, while sending the same number of Japanese students abroad.
Participating universities receive an annual grant of 200-400 million yen (between $2.4-million and $4.8-million) annually for five years to employ foreign faculty members and English-speaking support staff, and to create new all-English undergraduate courses. Each university is also required to set up offices outside Japan, both to recruit locally and help Japanese students study in other countries.
Japan's education ministry hopes that its modest commitment will help transform the country's academic landscape by luring more international students and generating more collaboration between foreign and Japanese professors.
"We think those universities will set an example for other colleges by leading with good practice," says Shigeharu Kato, deputy director of the Higher Education Bureau at the ministry. "This practice will then diffuse to other colleges around the country."
With Japan's population falling and dozens of private colleges facing bankruptcy, the government has little choice but to look beyond the country's borders. Education specialists agree that tripling the intake of foreign students will expose their Japanese counterparts to the world, and could help create a cadre of foreign academics who studied in Japan.
But while praising the Global 30 program, some are questioning its focus on elite universities. Priority was given to large institutions with proven research capacity, such as the University of Tokyo and the private Waseda University, says Akiyoshi Yonezawa, an associate professor at the Center for the Advancement of Higher Education in Tohoku University—another of the 13 selected institutions.
Tough Demands
"Smaller and midsized institutions, despite satisfying many of the strong international criteria, were eliminated from the selection process," he says. He adds that some of the country's best universities, such as the Tokyo Institute of Technology, were driven away from the program by its demands, which included raising the percentage of international students to 20 percent and the share of international professors to 10 percent by 2020.
Paul Snowden, dean of Waseda's School of International Liberal Studies, says that institutions that have achieved success attracting international students should have been rewarded for their efforts but instead were disqualified for having already met the ministry's goals.
Half of the students at Mr. Snowden's institution are from abroad, he says. But despite this accomplishment, three other Waseda faculties—the departments of political science; economics, science, and engineering; and social sciences — were selected for the Global 30.
"It was flattering, but disappointing, that basically our curriculum had been imitated by the ministry and disseminated to other places, but we weren't allowed any of the money," Mr. Snowden says.
He questions whether the ratio the School of International Liberal Studies has achieved can be replicated by others. "I'm pretty sure that extreme case is not going to be achieved by more than a handful of institutions in Japan, though."
Despite the concerns about the new program, Mr. Kato of the education ministry says Global 30 is now taking off and is "almost at cruising altitude." And there are some signs to support that.
Nagoya University's Mr. Yoshida says the roughly $3.5-million it received has helped the institution raise its intake of foreign undergraduate and graduate students by 170, and open new offices in Germany and Uzbekistan.
Yet the colleges and the ministry have been frustrated by cost cutting ordered by the Democratic Party of Japan government, which took power last year just after Global 30 was approved. Nagoya's government support, for example, will shrink by 27 percent in its next fiscal year, which starts in April. "We're just starting to launch this and the cuts have come. And we fear more are due," says Mr. Yoshida.
Some believe that the government may be switching priorities to a separate effort called Campus Asia, which is intended to harmonize China, Japan, and South Korea's colleges and ultimately keep more students in the region. A working group from each of the countries is set to meet in China this year, with the project officially starting in April.
Little Fiscal Legroom
With the worst public debt in the industrialized world—900 trillion yen, or $10.6-trillion—Japan has much less fiscal legroom than its competitors. That is likely to mean careful scrutiny of all education spending and a demand that colleges and the education ministry deliver more bang for the government's buck.
Even if this year's cuts were reversed and the government met its financial commitments to Global 30, Mr. Yonezawa of Tohoku University and others doubt that the student targets are attainable without major reform outside the education system. "It is impossible to achieve this sort of internationalization only with Global 30," he says, adding that Japan needs to focus on its second- and third-tier colleges. He also urges major changes in the labor markets and among Japan's conservative companies to give foreign graduates an incentive to stay and work in the country.
Despite these looming issues, Waseda's Mr. Snowden is among many who believe that Japan is still in the race. "Japan is indeed late in the game. But with much interest from Korea and China, I think it can find a new role as an international education base" within the region.
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Slow-Start-for-Japans/124346/
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
New financial assistance program to encourage more students to study abroad
The government is set to introduce a new program that will encourage more students to study abroad by giving them financial assistance to stay overseas for a short period of time, it has been learned.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is launching what it has dubbed a "short visit" program from next fiscal year to boost the number of students who study abroad. It plans to dispatch 7,000 students overseas for a short stay in fiscal 2011. The ministry will include 1.7 billion yen for the program in its budget requests for next fiscal year.
According to the ministry, the number of university students studying abroad had been on the increase until around 1999, but has since declined to an annual 80,000 or so as students are said to be getting more "inward-looking." Even the United States, which is the most popular destination for Japanese students, hosted 30 percent fewer students from Japan in 2008 than in 2004.
While the ministry currently provides a one-year or longer study abroad program, it receives only three times the number of applications as seats available. In a bid to encourage more students to go abroad, the ministry will solicit students who are willing to stay overseas for a period of two weeks to three months so they can get a taste of what an overseas education is like.
Undergraduate students at certain universities -- which have student exchange programs with counterparts overseas and will offer students credits even for a short stay abroad -- will be given financial assistance of up to 80,000 yen for their living costs abroad per month and up to 80,000 yen for one-way airfares.
The ministry's latest white paper on science and technology has pointed out that researchers with overseas experience are more productive, conducting international joint research and coauthoring papers with foreign counterparts, and that the recent trend of Japanese youths becoming more "inward-looking" threatens to undermine Japan's competitiveness in the international community. The government has advocated introducing 300,000 Japanese students into international exchange programs by 2020.
Furthermore, the ministry plans to boost exchanges among universities in Japan, China and South Korea through credit transfers and joint diplomas, allocating about 2 billion yen for the "Campus Asia initiative" in its budget requests for next fiscal year.
Behind the trend of fewer students venturing abroad to study lies the widespread use of the Internet in getting overseas information easily and students' concerns that studying abroad could delay their job hunting activities.
"Some may say our new program is offering too much for students, but students won't be motivated to go abroad and study unless given financial assistance and credit transfers are provided as they face a tight job market," said an official with the ministry.
"Japanese youths lack ambition nowadays. We want to lift their spirits," said Senior Vice Minister of Education Masaharu Nakagawa.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20100906p2a00m0na014000c.html
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is launching what it has dubbed a "short visit" program from next fiscal year to boost the number of students who study abroad. It plans to dispatch 7,000 students overseas for a short stay in fiscal 2011. The ministry will include 1.7 billion yen for the program in its budget requests for next fiscal year.
According to the ministry, the number of university students studying abroad had been on the increase until around 1999, but has since declined to an annual 80,000 or so as students are said to be getting more "inward-looking." Even the United States, which is the most popular destination for Japanese students, hosted 30 percent fewer students from Japan in 2008 than in 2004.
While the ministry currently provides a one-year or longer study abroad program, it receives only three times the number of applications as seats available. In a bid to encourage more students to go abroad, the ministry will solicit students who are willing to stay overseas for a period of two weeks to three months so they can get a taste of what an overseas education is like.
Undergraduate students at certain universities -- which have student exchange programs with counterparts overseas and will offer students credits even for a short stay abroad -- will be given financial assistance of up to 80,000 yen for their living costs abroad per month and up to 80,000 yen for one-way airfares.
The ministry's latest white paper on science and technology has pointed out that researchers with overseas experience are more productive, conducting international joint research and coauthoring papers with foreign counterparts, and that the recent trend of Japanese youths becoming more "inward-looking" threatens to undermine Japan's competitiveness in the international community. The government has advocated introducing 300,000 Japanese students into international exchange programs by 2020.
Furthermore, the ministry plans to boost exchanges among universities in Japan, China and South Korea through credit transfers and joint diplomas, allocating about 2 billion yen for the "Campus Asia initiative" in its budget requests for next fiscal year.
Behind the trend of fewer students venturing abroad to study lies the widespread use of the Internet in getting overseas information easily and students' concerns that studying abroad could delay their job hunting activities.
"Some may say our new program is offering too much for students, but students won't be motivated to go abroad and study unless given financial assistance and credit transfers are provided as they face a tight job market," said an official with the ministry.
"Japanese youths lack ambition nowadays. We want to lift their spirits," said Senior Vice Minister of Education Masaharu Nakagawa.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20100906p2a00m0na014000c.html
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