What if one simple concept, such as implementing a wide-reaching scholarship fund for Japanese students to study overseas, actually became, in a sense, a sort of "Trojan horse" into the Japanese establishment, unearthing a whole slew of inefficiencies, barriers and problems to be solved in Japan's government, education system and society?
There are at least three points to consider when establishing an effective scholarship fund. The first, I present this week.
1. Expand beyond existing programs
First of all, there is little point in simply recreating existing programs like the Mansfield fellowship (U.S. government employees only), Rhodes (Oxford University only), National Science Foundation (for researchers/scientists) and Fulbright (graduate students only) scholarships, in which elite students go overseas to do post-graduate research. Researchers are important, of course, but Japan also needs to nurture people who will become the next generation of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and international business leaders, as well as artists, writers, musicians and people who support such endeavors.
This point is very important. The program should catalyze cross-pollination and well-rounded experience in a global way. Existing programs send students to meet similar peers to reinforce their area of knowledge. With the Japanese the opposite is needed - their education is currently very focused, so giving them a chance to interact, to exchange ideas with people of different backgrounds, both culturally and educationally, so they can see things from different perspectives. If there was one main point to this new scholarship program, it is to provide opportunities for such cross-pollination. Therefore, the program should be open to students from all fields of study.
In addition, the institution to which the students were being sent would have to be carefully vetted. Sending large numbers of Japanese students to community colleges or ESL programs, where the temptation would be to get together with other Japanese students, would be counterproductive. The program's organizers should check out the situation overseas and also "load balance" the target universities to avoid a situation in which the students all end up at one institution and spend all their time together.
Next week, I discuss scholarship organizations and what functions they should perform to be effective.
Your comments are always welcome.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Barriers and Solutions for Setting Up Study Abroad Programs
As a long-time proponent of study abroad, I am convinced that students who live and work overseas gain a wider perspective and a global viewpoint. They can expand their networks and get valuable experience in learning how to negotiate, exchange ideas, and discuss opposing opinions respectfully.
The primary reason Japanese students, particularly male students, are not going overseas is that they have little incentive to do so, even if they have the desire. Indeed, the educational system - and corporate society in general - seem set up especially to put roadblocks in the way of this kind of activity. People can have serious problems if they get off the corporate escalator where they are expected to do one thing at 20, another at 21, another at 22, get married at 25, and so on.
One barrier in particular is the dreaded shushoku katsudo, or job-hunting activity, a stressful period of job interviews and examinations which now begins in the third year of university or even earlier. The hiring cuts and belt-tightening of the last 20 years have resulted in a work force too frightened of the future to dare venturing "off the beaten path."
We must banish the real and paralyzing fear among the Japanese about getting off track and acquiring the stigma of a chuto sayo, or "in between hire," that is one who is hired in mid-career or as anything except as a shin sotsu, or new graduate, snatched up immediately after university and put on a steady, age-based promotion track.
There are many cases in which students receive scholarships but are vetoed by parents worried that their children will be frozen out of the shushoku katsudo, if they are absent from the country and therefore the job-hunting process. Even more important in Japan is moving through the ranks with your peers who got hired with you as new grads - not matching up with your normal age group makes people suspect something is wrong with you. So there are many hurdles even when the money is available.
Action, solutions
An obvious first step is to set up a scholarship program to encourage and give incentives for students to go abroad.
Just giving scholarships is not the end goal or the solution. In the process, the program will uncover a host of latent issues that will highlight/pinpoint areas within the Japanese government and educational system that need to change.
These include tie-ups between educational institutions to realize tuition reciprocity, so that students are not forced to pay tuition to both their home institution and the exchange one (exchange students at Keio going to Harvard, for example, have to pay tuition at both institutions), and credit transferability, so that students can use credits earned while studying abroad toward their degree.
These changes would start with a policy to encourage scholarships at the high government level; the government would instruct the Ministry of Education to set up fair exchanges on reciprocity of credits, tuition subsidies and waivers; income taxes (Finance Ministry); visas (coordinating with foreign embassies); and take steps to tackle other barriers (such as parental concerns).
On the private industry side, companies would need to change their thinking somewhat to accommodate the program and the new, globally inclined individuals coming out of it. Firms would have to loosen or eliminate some of their traditional hiring practices, such as the strictly defined hiring season, job-interview schedule, as well as the stigma of chuto sayo, rigid adherence to year of entrance into a company, and so on.
They might consider setting hiring criteria, a 5% quota for example, for hiring people who have actually studied abroad and/or give incentives to companies that hire such people.
With government, academic and private industry cooperation (a topic for next week), a number of creative solutions could be put forth to encourage a new generation of innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs who add spark and energy to a sluggish economy.
Your comments are always welcome.
The primary reason Japanese students, particularly male students, are not going overseas is that they have little incentive to do so, even if they have the desire. Indeed, the educational system - and corporate society in general - seem set up especially to put roadblocks in the way of this kind of activity. People can have serious problems if they get off the corporate escalator where they are expected to do one thing at 20, another at 21, another at 22, get married at 25, and so on.
One barrier in particular is the dreaded shushoku katsudo, or job-hunting activity, a stressful period of job interviews and examinations which now begins in the third year of university or even earlier. The hiring cuts and belt-tightening of the last 20 years have resulted in a work force too frightened of the future to dare venturing "off the beaten path."
We must banish the real and paralyzing fear among the Japanese about getting off track and acquiring the stigma of a chuto sayo, or "in between hire," that is one who is hired in mid-career or as anything except as a shin sotsu, or new graduate, snatched up immediately after university and put on a steady, age-based promotion track.
There are many cases in which students receive scholarships but are vetoed by parents worried that their children will be frozen out of the shushoku katsudo, if they are absent from the country and therefore the job-hunting process. Even more important in Japan is moving through the ranks with your peers who got hired with you as new grads - not matching up with your normal age group makes people suspect something is wrong with you. So there are many hurdles even when the money is available.
Action, solutions
An obvious first step is to set up a scholarship program to encourage and give incentives for students to go abroad.
Just giving scholarships is not the end goal or the solution. In the process, the program will uncover a host of latent issues that will highlight/pinpoint areas within the Japanese government and educational system that need to change.
These include tie-ups between educational institutions to realize tuition reciprocity, so that students are not forced to pay tuition to both their home institution and the exchange one (exchange students at Keio going to Harvard, for example, have to pay tuition at both institutions), and credit transferability, so that students can use credits earned while studying abroad toward their degree.
These changes would start with a policy to encourage scholarships at the high government level; the government would instruct the Ministry of Education to set up fair exchanges on reciprocity of credits, tuition subsidies and waivers; income taxes (Finance Ministry); visas (coordinating with foreign embassies); and take steps to tackle other barriers (such as parental concerns).
On the private industry side, companies would need to change their thinking somewhat to accommodate the program and the new, globally inclined individuals coming out of it. Firms would have to loosen or eliminate some of their traditional hiring practices, such as the strictly defined hiring season, job-interview schedule, as well as the stigma of chuto sayo, rigid adherence to year of entrance into a company, and so on.
They might consider setting hiring criteria, a 5% quota for example, for hiring people who have actually studied abroad and/or give incentives to companies that hire such people.
With government, academic and private industry cooperation (a topic for next week), a number of creative solutions could be put forth to encourage a new generation of innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs who add spark and energy to a sluggish economy.
Your comments are always welcome.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Why Japan Should Promote a Study Abroad Scholarships
Even in this age of globalization, the number of students going abroad is in serious decline. In recent years, I had conducted an informal survey on the subject of overseas experience among university students and found that about a third of them, most of them female, had three months or more of overseas experience. Another third, mostly male students, had two weeks or even less of overseas travel. The remaining third had never been overseas, and most of them didn't even hold passports.
By contrast, U.S. students are studying abroad in record numbers. According to the IIE, the number of Americans studying abroad increased by 8% in the 2006/7 academic year, part of a decade that saw unprecedented growth in the number of U.S. students receiving academic credit for their experience abroad, with an increase of close to 150%, from less than 100,000 to nearly 250,000 in 2007.
At the same time Asia, outside of Japan, is the region sending the most students to the U.S., with increases of 10% every year for the last decade. For example, in the 1994 and 1995 academic years, the number of Japanese students studying in the U.S. totaled 45,000; by 2006-2007, it had declined to 35,000. At the same time, by contrast, last year China sent 98,510 grad and undergrad students to the U.S., and India over 100,000. The "stay rates," that is the number of students who receive advanced degrees, such as PhDs, and then stay to pursue research, are similarly skewed. According to data from the Oak Ridge Institute for Science & Engineering, for PhD recipients who remained in the U.S. after 5 years, the rate for China was 91% and for India it was 81%. Japan is way down the list at 33%.
Why bother with overseas experience?
By going abroad, students gain a wider perspective and a global viewpoint. They expand their networks, exchange ideas, and learn how to debate and discuss respectfully. They get an idea of the breadth of the world, and the wants and needs that drive the actions of people in other parts of the world. They also get used to differences - monocultural people have a tough time when going overseas for the first time, particularly in dealing with foreigners in this increasingly global world. Since Japan is a country with relatively few foreigners in the population, Japanese within Japan don't have many chances to speak English or interact with foreigners.
People need to learn to adapt to different ways of thinking - interacting with different cultures, building relationships, getting comfortable with other nationalities and so on - and to do this at a young age. It is important to do this at the university level at the latest, though high school exchange programs should also be looked into. Once people go into the work force, it is too late. By the time they reach the corporate career level, the learning process is different - less forgiving of mistakes, and less tolerant of people who are trying to find their feet in a new situation. Japan educates its students to conform, memorize and fear failure - whereas in this globalized world, cooperation, team building, interaction, discussion, negotiation and understanding are critical qualities.
Study abroad also promotes independent thinking, a crucial attribute of strong leaders with vision.
Finally, and this is perhaps most important, experience abroad in an international environment teaches people to be comfortable with English. Like it or not, English is the language of global business, science, diplomacy, and most other international interactions. At a time when China (incredibly) has more English speakers than the U.S., yes, it matters whether Japanese speak - not just speak but are comfortable using - English. If you want to be effective on the global stage, then you must be confident in English, and so must your key staff.
However, English proficiency among Japanese college grads, as indicated by TOEFL scores, is the lowest among 27 Asian countries. This is a recurring issue for Japan. Japanese students supposedly "learn" English for 6-7 years in junior, middle and high school. However, they can't really use it or speak it, since this learning amounts to little more than memorizing word lists, taking tests and obsessing about TOEFL/TOEIC scores. And with little opportunity to use English in real situations, the students lack the confidence to use their language skills and little motivation to perfect them. Having this scholarship program available would help in efforts to overhaul English education in Japanese schools - if students expect to go overseas in the near future, then the focus will shift to language they can use, rather than passing tests.
Spending time abroad helps people understand that the common language of the world today is not proper, flawless English; it is, in fact, "broken English." Experiencing this first-hand and understanding it allows people to be more confident, relaxed and effective when interacting within this globalized world in spite of their imperfect English. This in turn gives them the freedom and ability to work with people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and ways of thinking. And that is a major advantage for companies and other organizations with an interest in operating overseas.
Indeed, speaking is only half the issue. Understanding, accepting and expressing different viewpoints - culturally, technically, etc. - are just as important. Silicon Valley, to take a famous example, is not so much a place as a way of thinking. The Americans there are part French, English, German, Chinese, Japanese, and on and on. All of them bring their quirks, feelings, emotions, understanding, culture, background, etc., as they proactively - regardless of age or seniority - debate, discuss and argue to create the best product possible. In Japan, in contrast, there is little debate; everything ends up looking like conventional Japanese since only the most senior advice gets implemented.
Next time I'll look at some of the barriers to creating a study abroad program. Your comments are always welcome.
By contrast, U.S. students are studying abroad in record numbers. According to the IIE, the number of Americans studying abroad increased by 8% in the 2006/7 academic year, part of a decade that saw unprecedented growth in the number of U.S. students receiving academic credit for their experience abroad, with an increase of close to 150%, from less than 100,000 to nearly 250,000 in 2007.
At the same time Asia, outside of Japan, is the region sending the most students to the U.S., with increases of 10% every year for the last decade. For example, in the 1994 and 1995 academic years, the number of Japanese students studying in the U.S. totaled 45,000; by 2006-2007, it had declined to 35,000. At the same time, by contrast, last year China sent 98,510 grad and undergrad students to the U.S., and India over 100,000. The "stay rates," that is the number of students who receive advanced degrees, such as PhDs, and then stay to pursue research, are similarly skewed. According to data from the Oak Ridge Institute for Science & Engineering, for PhD recipients who remained in the U.S. after 5 years, the rate for China was 91% and for India it was 81%. Japan is way down the list at 33%.
Why bother with overseas experience?
By going abroad, students gain a wider perspective and a global viewpoint. They expand their networks, exchange ideas, and learn how to debate and discuss respectfully. They get an idea of the breadth of the world, and the wants and needs that drive the actions of people in other parts of the world. They also get used to differences - monocultural people have a tough time when going overseas for the first time, particularly in dealing with foreigners in this increasingly global world. Since Japan is a country with relatively few foreigners in the population, Japanese within Japan don't have many chances to speak English or interact with foreigners.
People need to learn to adapt to different ways of thinking - interacting with different cultures, building relationships, getting comfortable with other nationalities and so on - and to do this at a young age. It is important to do this at the university level at the latest, though high school exchange programs should also be looked into. Once people go into the work force, it is too late. By the time they reach the corporate career level, the learning process is different - less forgiving of mistakes, and less tolerant of people who are trying to find their feet in a new situation. Japan educates its students to conform, memorize and fear failure - whereas in this globalized world, cooperation, team building, interaction, discussion, negotiation and understanding are critical qualities.
Study abroad also promotes independent thinking, a crucial attribute of strong leaders with vision.
Finally, and this is perhaps most important, experience abroad in an international environment teaches people to be comfortable with English. Like it or not, English is the language of global business, science, diplomacy, and most other international interactions. At a time when China (incredibly) has more English speakers than the U.S., yes, it matters whether Japanese speak - not just speak but are comfortable using - English. If you want to be effective on the global stage, then you must be confident in English, and so must your key staff.
However, English proficiency among Japanese college grads, as indicated by TOEFL scores, is the lowest among 27 Asian countries. This is a recurring issue for Japan. Japanese students supposedly "learn" English for 6-7 years in junior, middle and high school. However, they can't really use it or speak it, since this learning amounts to little more than memorizing word lists, taking tests and obsessing about TOEFL/TOEIC scores. And with little opportunity to use English in real situations, the students lack the confidence to use their language skills and little motivation to perfect them. Having this scholarship program available would help in efforts to overhaul English education in Japanese schools - if students expect to go overseas in the near future, then the focus will shift to language they can use, rather than passing tests.
Spending time abroad helps people understand that the common language of the world today is not proper, flawless English; it is, in fact, "broken English." Experiencing this first-hand and understanding it allows people to be more confident, relaxed and effective when interacting within this globalized world in spite of their imperfect English. This in turn gives them the freedom and ability to work with people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and ways of thinking. And that is a major advantage for companies and other organizations with an interest in operating overseas.
Indeed, speaking is only half the issue. Understanding, accepting and expressing different viewpoints - culturally, technically, etc. - are just as important. Silicon Valley, to take a famous example, is not so much a place as a way of thinking. The Americans there are part French, English, German, Chinese, Japanese, and on and on. All of them bring their quirks, feelings, emotions, understanding, culture, background, etc., as they proactively - regardless of age or seniority - debate, discuss and argue to create the best product possible. In Japan, in contrast, there is little debate; everything ends up looking like conventional Japanese since only the most senior advice gets implemented.
Next time I'll look at some of the barriers to creating a study abroad program. Your comments are always welcome.
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