lifestyle

Australia, Japan move education relationship from periphery to the core

0 Comments
By Bilateral Magazine

Since the landmark signing of the 1957 Agreement on Commerce, Australia and Japan have enjoyed a strong relationship marked by complementarity. Resources and agriculture dominate Japan’s imports from Australia. In turn, Australia looks to Japan for passenger vehicles and refined petroleum.

The extent of the close Australia-Japan ties has frequently led prime ministers and senior politicians from both countries to refer to each other as “best friends” in the Asia-Pacific region.

For all the media attention garnered, one of the most important pillars underpinning the relationship — education — continues to remain under the radar.

Annually, Australia hosts tens of thousands of Japanese students seeking to learn English, study in high schools, obtain a degree or undertake vocational training. Australia is also increasing its profile as the preferred training ground to develop the business English skills of corporate Japan’s stock of "gurobaru jinzai," or global human capital.

The numbers are impressive on the Australian side, too. In 2012, there were nearly 300,000 Australian school students studying Japanese. According to the Australian Council for Educational Research, Japanese has continuously been the most widely studied language in Australia since 1990.

The two governments are working to ensure future generations of young Australians and Japanese continue to engage in the education space. Under the recent Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, a greater number of Japanese students are now eligible to apply for Japanese Government scholarships and low-interest loans to study in Australia.

The Australian Government is also proactively promoting an increased engagement in education. Under its flagship student mobility program, the New Colombo Plan, in 2014 some 450 Australian university students undertook short-term study and internships in Japan.

Japan is placing a renewed emphasis on developing the global literacies of school students internationalising its universities. With Australia offering a welcoming and safe environment for international students, and its universities committed to deepening relationships with their 473 partner institutions in Japan, the Australia-Japan complementarity is set to enter a new and exciting phase.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


No Comment
Login to comment

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites