National University Reform Enhancement Promotion Project MEXT(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
Tri-Institutional Collaborative/Cooperative Educational Reform Project

Japanese

Globally-oriented human resources fostering

Globally-oriented human resources fostering

 With an excellent track record in international collaborations, shared use of assets, and the establishment of overseas collaborations and joint networks; the three institutes aim to improve and enrich the program to develop practical andleading global engineers who are able to play an active role at the international level, as well as develop a training program for the academic staff needed to support this development.

Outline of the project

An internship in progress

Establishment of an Overseas Education Base and Global Education

As part of this education program, we have established an overseas education base in Malaysia. Students from both UTs and KOSEN are dispatched to this education base, where they learn different languages and cultures, participate in internships, and foster relationships with local students.
Malaysia was chosen to be the site of the education base from among the other ASEAN countries due to its attainment of early economic growth as an export country. Specifically, the education base was established in Penang, where many Japanese companies and multinational corporations have established a presence. The two UTs are currently collaborating with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)-an academic exchange agreement partner university-to develop education activities from a global perspective. As an example of the global education initiatives at this base, undergraduate students are being dispatched from Japan to Penang where they participate in internships at a local company for a period of two months. In this way, the students are able to deepen their understanding of different cultures and improve their communication ability in a foreign language, thereby enhancing their capabilities as globally-oriented personnel. Furthermore, there are plans to implement longer overseas internship that span six months in Penang and other locations.
In addition, we have established overseas liaison offices in Thailand and Mexico, which are the global manufacturing centers of the ASEAN and North/Central American regions, respectively. These offices were opened in Thammasat University in Thailand and Universidad de Monterrey in Mexico, and are staffed with resident coordinators. These offices provide development support for undergraduate students and KOSEN students at the internship destinations, and conduct activities to increase opportunities for industry-academia collaborations. A result of these efforts is the inauguration of the first long-term overseas internship program for KOSEN students.

Global internship seminars

Faculty Globalization Support (Global FD Program)

In parallel with the globalized education of the students, we are also conducting a global faculty development(FD) program in collaboration with Queens College, the City University of New York (QC); this program is targeted at the academic staff of the two UTs and KOSEN. In this program, faculty members undergo English language training for three months at TUT before being dispatched to QC for a six-month period. During this time, faculty members undergo further English language training, take classes, and search for collaborative research topics with other labs. As this program combines training and practical implementation, the staff will be able to fully utilize their new skills by conducting lectures in English at USM in Penang and other institutes.

Major Progress and Achievements

As a means to drive the globally-oriented human resources development program forward, we are administering numerous projects at the overseas offices established in Malaysia, Thailand, and Mexico. These projects are centered on TUT's Institute for Global Network Innovation in Technology Education (IGNITE), with collaborative support from NUT and KOSEN. The three institutes are currently working toward the development of globally-oriented human resources. For example, 4th year undergraduate students are participating in overseas internships at multinational corporations located near the education base in Penang. In addition, global internship seminars are held at the liaison office in Thailand, and joint seminars are held at the liaison office in Mexico. We are also making efforts in a global FD program to improve the research abilities of the academic staff and contribute to their teaching methods through the long-term FD program held in collaboration with QC, where faculty are dispatched overseas and undergo training and practice to conduct lectures in English.