(5) Partnership with Universities and Educational Institutions
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 strives 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 indeed promotes 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 socio-economic 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 total of 41 universities in Japan so far. Over 5,000 international students have enrolled in the universities, 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 works to strengthen the network among Japanese and ASEAN universities, collaborating with the industrial sector, and engaging in joint research with neighboring countries.
In addition, MOFA and JICA have implemented Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), 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). International joint studies between universities and research institutions of Japan and those of developing countries are being conducted through SATREPS (see “Promoting Science, Technology and Innovation, and Research and Development” for the results, and “Master Techniques from Japan to the World 3” and “Master Techniques from Japan to the World 4” for cooperation in Thailand and Cameroon).
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.
Glossary
- Japan Platform (JPF)
- Japan Platform (JPF), an emergency humanitarian aid organization, was established in 2000 through a partnership among NGOs, the government, and the business community with the aim of supporting and coordinating rapid and effective emergency humanitarian aid activities by Japanese NGOs in the event of a large-scale natural disaster or conflict that results in a vast number of refugees or internally displaced persons, etc. JPF utilizes ODA funds provided by the Government of Japan, as well as donations from companies and citizens to carry out emergency humanitarian assistance, including through the distribution of food/non-food items and livelihood recovery support, during occurrences such as a large-scale natural disaster or a vast number of refugees or internally displaced persons fleeing from conflicts.
- NGO-Ministry of Foreign Affairs Regular Consultation Meetings
- In order to promote a stronger partnership and dialogue between NGOs and MOFA, the NGO-Ministry of Foreign Affairs Regular Consultation Meeting was launched in FY1996 for sharing information on ODA and regularly exchanging opinions on measures for improving partnerships with NGOs. It comprises the General Meeting as well as two subcommittees, the “ODA Policy Council” and the “Partnership Promotion Committee.”
- ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net)
- AUN/SEED-Net was launched in 2001 as a university network comprising 26 top-ranking engineering universities in 10 ASEAN member countries and 14 partner universities from Japan. It implements various research and education activities to produce advanced human resources in the engineering sector, with the aim of realizing sustainable development in Southeast Asia and Japan. This initiative is implemented with mainly the support from the Government of Japan through JICA, in cooperation with the governments and universities of Southeast Asia and Japan.