Indian Students throng Japan Education Fair at DPS R.K.Puram in Delhi

In an effort to attract more and more Indian students towards growing higher educational opportunities in Japan a day long Japan education fair was held in Delhi Public School, (DPS) R.K.Puram here in capital Delhi.

The fair organised by the Ritsumeikan India Office in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan, The Japan Foundation and DPS, R.K. Puram was inaugurated by rear Admiral M.M.Chopra, Vice chairman, DPS society in presence of Prof. Monte Cassim, Vice Chancellor, The Ritsumeikan Trust, Japan, Mr Ryoji Noda, Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in India, Prof Ashok K.Chawla, Professor incharge, Ritsumeikan India Office and Dr D.R Saini, Principal, DPS R.K.Puram.

About 11 top Japanese universities including Doshisha, Kyushu, Meiji, Nagoya , Osaka , Ritsumeikan APU, Ritsumeikan, The Univ. of Tokyo, Tohoku, Univ. of Tsukuba and Waseda participated in the fair and provided advice and information to visiting Indian students who intend to study in Japan. The information provided by the participating universities included concerning their educational system, educational programs, admission procedures, and characteristics.

"The Japan Education Fair, which is part of 60th anniversary of Japan India diplomatic relations has been designed to provide Indian students and educators with up-to-date and correct information about the Japanese higher education and research by the participating institutions and organizations in order to help the students select an appropriate school and achieve their academic pursuits, thereby promoting study in Japan." Said Mr Satoshi Hata, General Manager, Ritsumeikan India Office, one of the main organiser of the fair.

"The major focus of the fair was to remove inhibition of language barrier in minds of Indian students as enrolling at some leading Japanese universities is no longer a linguistic challenge. English is now the medium of teaching at some courses of Japan's top universities, thanks to the "Global-30 Project", a Japanese Government initiative launched in 2009 in order to globalize higher education in Japan. One of the important mission of the project is to attract excellent students from across the world. The Initiative has set itself an ambitious target of enrolling 300,000 foreign students by 2020", said Prof Monte Cassim, Vice Chancellor, The Ritsumeikan Trust while speaking on the occasion.

The main attraction for Indian student studying in Japan is an obvious gain of enhanced job opportunity in Japanese firms, which are expanding steadily across the India and looking for excellent Indian personnel, preferably having knowledge of Japan and understand Japanese language if possible.

At present about 600 Indian students are studying in Japan as compared to a lakh in USA. This is mainly due to low level of awareness. This fair will help in generating awareness and attracting more Indian students in Japan.

"We don't have any specific target in mind but we want even one more Indian students to come and study in Japan. To encourage Indians to pursue higher studies in Japan, the Japanese government awards about 70 scholarships to meritorious students every year. Each scholarship covers air fare, tuition fee and living expenses. Beside different scholarships granted by the Japanese government, individual universities, educational foundations and some corporate, International students are also legally allowed to work for up to 28 hours a week when the universities are in session and up to eight hours a day during holidays" said Mr Ryoji Noda, Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in India.

"The University of Tokyo has also set up an office in Bangalore to create awareness on education opportunities in Japan among Indian students and encourage them to apply to study in Japan. Japan has many premier education institutions and are focused on attracting Indian students to look at Japan as an education destination because India is one of the most important countries for Japan in terms of academic partnership. A similar Japan Education Fair is being organised in Bangalore on September 1, 2012.

The other major highlights of the fair were on Studying in Japan, India-Japan Joint Research, Career Opportunity and Scholarships and visa issues as well. Speakers are prominent educationists, an HR executive of a reputed Japanese Corporate and a business personnel who has studied in Japan, etc.

Another major highlight of the fair were Japanese Animation, Chibi Maruko-Chan and Saras par chad kar (dubbed in Hindi) and videos about Japanese cutting-edge and Environmental technologies, display of Origami (paper folding craft), Ikebana (flower arrangement) and Japanese calligraphy.

Source : Equity Bulls

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