Nagaoka University of Technology’s (NUT) application for the “Cooperative Engineer Education Program with South Indian Universities based on the Long-Term Internship Experience” was successfully selected for the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Re-Inventing Japan Project FY2014: Support for the Formation of Collaborative Programs with Russian and Indian Universities. The Re-Inventing Japan Project aims to foster the development of human resources capable of playing an active role at the international level, as well as strengthen the global developmental ability of university education.
The objectives of this project are to ensure the quality of higher education and to support the mechanisms for international educational collaborations with universities in Asia, the US, and Europe. NUT’s relationship with India is marked by long-term numerous collaborative achievements (including the Jitsumu-Kunren internship) with institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research. In this new program, we plan to build upon these past achievements to establish a quality-assured cooperative educational system based on a mutual credit transfer system and a joint-degree program with IITM and its sister school - the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Kancheepuram (IIITD&M). The Head of the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at IITM and the Director of IIITD&M are both NUT alumni. The establishment of a mutual credit transfer system and a joint degree program will provide a framework that will allow NUT students to experience overseas studies in India without the need to extend their enrollment period.

The population of India currently exceeds 1 billion, and is projected to soon surpass that of China. In addition, India is enjoying high economic growth, and is even expected to replace Japan as the world’s third largest economy by GDP in the near future. As such, there will be an inevitable rapid increase in the exchanges between our two countries. The main focus of this program is South India, where many Japanese companies (e.g., automobile manufacturers and electrical / electronic-related companies) have already established a strong presence, and are expected to make further expansions. We hope that students will actively participate in this program, develop their own sense of globalization, become engineers with in-depth knowledge regarding India, and play a leadership role in the globalization of Japanese industries and global development.

Executive Director and Vice President,
Nagaoka University of Technology
Yoshiki MIKAMI

The Re-Inventing Japan Project was established by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology with the aim of fostering the development of human resources capable of playing an active role at the international level, as well as to strengthen the global developmental ability of university education. The project supports the mechanisms for international educational collaborations with universities in Asia, the US, and Europe that conduct overseas study programs for Japanese students, and undertakes the strategic acceptance of foreign students to Japanese universities. NUT’s application to implement a quality-assured exchange program with Indian universities was approved to receive Support for the Formation of Collaborative Programs with Russian and Indian Universities in FY2014. (A total of 14 universities had applied for the FY2014 project, from which only four universities, including NUT, were selected.)

(Period of Project Implementation: FY2014 to FY2018)