Some of the roles that universities can play in development cooperation are: to contribute to the development of developing countries, to develop human resources that will be responsible for international cooperation, and to organize and disseminate the philosophy and theories of Japan’s assistance. Taking these roles of universities into account, the Government of Japan is striving to cooperate with universities in terms of broad intellectual cooperation, regarding all aspects of the cycle of assistance from organizing the theories of assistance to putting them into practice and giving back to the Japanese people through education. Japan is indeed promoting projects including technical cooperation, ODA loan, and the JICA Partnership Program (JPP) in collaboration with various universities.

To give an example, with the objective of developing advanced human resources who will become the core of socioeconomic development in developing countries, the Government of Japan utilizes the JICA Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) to accept young officials from developing countries as international students in a cumulative total of 36 universities in Japan. So far, the scholarship has brought over 4,600 international students to Japan, including those in master’s and doctoral programs. Moreover, Japan provides support to Thailand to establish and operate Kosen schools (Colleges of Technology), which are unique to the Japanese education system, in Thailand, and cooperates in the provision of Kosen education that meets the same standards as those in Japan in order to develop industrial human resources in Thailand. Furthermore, Japan has implemented the ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net) Project*, as a JICA technical cooperation project, in which Japan is working to strengthen the network among Japanese and ASEAN universities, collaborating with the industrial sector, and engaging in joint research with neighboring countries.

In addition, further scientific and technological advancement is needed to solve global issues such as global warming and infectious diseases, which have been rapidly becoming more acute in recent years. Research and development in developing countries vulnerable to the impacts of these issues must be conducted according to their regional needs. Expectation for advanced science and technology from Japan is increasing especially in these countries. At the same time, universities and research institutions in developing countries urgently need to improve their self-sustainable research and development capacities and build frameworks for sustainable activities. MOFA and JICA have been implementing Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) Note 11 since 2008, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) under these circumstances. International joint studies between universities and research institutions of Japan and those of developing countries are being conducted through SATREPS (see “Master Techniques from Japan to the World” for specific examples).

Above-mentioned partnerships with universities have contributed to the advancement of the academic capabilities of developing countries for solving issues, as well as the globalization of Japanese universities through accepting trainees who study in Japan (see “ODA Topics” for Japan’s globalization through development cooperation).

1. Note 11: See the glossary. Science and technology cooperation: https://www.jica.go.jp/activities/schemes/science/index.html (in Japanese only)

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