Page 60 - Forbes - Asia (September 2018)

1 JAPAN SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

JAPAN

OPEN UNIVERSITIES: THE INTERNATIONALIZATION

OF JAPANESE EDUCATION

Part of the Japanese government’s overarching Q ”Students, faculties and

strategy to open up to a more globalized world is institutions as a whole have
the internationalization of Japan’s universities, achieved great steps toward
which are welcoming more international students, internationalization.”

sending more Japanese students abroad and YOSHIMASA HAYASHI,
offering more classes in English. Minister of Education

Traditionally a closed society, Japan ter of Education, Culture, Sports, The university president also
has been making efforts to open up Science and Technology. wants to increase the number of
to the world with “globalization,” “To complement the achieve- international students coming to
“internationalization” and “going ments of the Top Global Univer- HNIU, particularly students from
global” becoming buzz words in sity Project and to foster the next such as science and advanced tech- Asia, offering intensive Japanese
recent years, both in the business generation of students, we have nologies,” says Sakuji Yoshimura, language courses, a variety of
and education spheres. transformed our entrance examina- president of Higashi Nippon Inter- innovative programs and the op-
In 2014, the Ministry of Educa- tion. These two reforms combined national University (HNIU). portunity to discover the unique
tion launched the Top Global Uni- will drive Japanese higher educa- Located in the city of Iwaki, beauty and culture of the Fuku-
versity Project, which aims to help tion toward achieving the highest Fukushima, HNIU is made of up of shima region.
selected universities comprehen- international standards. two faculties: the Faculty of Eco- “Today, international students
sively internationalize their edu- “We have also implemented nomics and Management and the make up 15% of students in our
cational programs and campuses. many measures to welcome both Faculty of Health and Welfare. In university and we hope to reach
Since the launch of the initiative, students and teachers to Japan. line with the goals of the Top Global 30%. We have noticed an in-
there has been a significant in- Furthermore, we are advancing the University Project, it plans to offer crease in Thai students, Nepalese
crease in the number of courses start of foreign language education more English languages classes and students, Vietnamese students and
offered in English, the number of from fifth grade to third grade. By lectures in English to its Japanese also students from Myanmar. Our
Japanese students studying abroad, 2020, initiation to foreign language students, and encourage them to intensive Japanese course will help
and the number of international activity will be set to begin in third study abroad. them to understand Japanese cul-
students coming to Japan. grade, and foreign language will The university has several part- ture and to live together with local
“The numbers don’t lie. This re- become a subject of its own, with nerships with universities in Chi- people,” says Yoshimura.
form has been a major success. Stu- evaluations, credits and scores, in na, South Korea, the U.S. and the He says that Japan is seen as a
dents, faculties and institutions as a fifth grade.” U.K, and is “very much looking “closed” country, but that is some-
whole have achieved great steps to- Ninety percent of international forward to increasing the number thing HNIU and other universities
ward internationalization. Through students in Japan originate from of students studying abroad and are trying to change through nu-
international exchanges we have Asia, where Japan is regarded by extending partnerships all over Asia merous reforms.
created a truly multicultural envi- many as the most reputable desti- and Africa. We want to send more “I believe that attracting interna-
ronment, and our alumni have ac- nation for higher education, learn- Japanese students abroad so that tional students to Japan is one of
quired the international communi- ing and advanced research. they can ‘internationalize’ their the solutions to the country’s de-
cation skills they once lacked,” says “Our education system is one of thoughts by expanding their way mographic problem (characterized
Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s Minis- the best in Asia, particularly in fields of thinking,” says Yoshimura. by an aging and shrinking popula-

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