Speaker
Description
Against the backdrop of declining student numbers and a desire to boost international competitiveness, Japanese higher education has increasingly focused on educating ‘global human resources’, namely workers with foreign language proficiency who can work flexibly with others across cultures (Yonezawa & Shimmi, 2017). This concept tends to stress identity as Japanese, reflecting the demands of government and business for future workers. This contrasts with concepts such as global citizenship, which suggest identification with a global community.
A survey on student perceptions of identity and cross-cultural communication was administered to 48 students. One section focused on the concept of global human resources, using questions from Kudo & Unser-Schutz (2020). Subsequently, seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with volunteer students. These focused on motivation and barriers to global engagement, and student perceptions of “global human resources” and their own identity as a “global person”.
The presentation will consider the extent to which student self-image and future goals accord with the privileged definition of ‘global human resources’ and explore what students consider to be motivating factors, constraints, and affordances relating to international engagement. It will conclude by suggesting key considerations for Japanese higher education institutions seeking to promote international engagement among their student body.
Questionnaire data suggested that while a majority saw being active internationally as important, a smaller percentage saw it as realistic. In interviews, the most frequently cited motivation was desire to communicate widely with people from other cultures, with fewer students mentioning international work as a goal. English ability was frequently cited as both a constraint and an enabling factor. While four of seven students interviewed stated that engaging internationally was realistic for them, others felt that they could not be confident without concrete plans, suggesting the importance of making visible potential future paths to international engagement.
Summary
In recent decades, Japanese higher education has focused on educating ‘global human resources’ who can work flexibly with others across cultures and communicate in other languages. Based on survey data and semi-structured interviews, this presentation will explore what individual students consider to be motivating factors, constraints, and affordances relating to international engagement, and the extent to which they identify with the concept of ‘global human resources’.
| Teaching Context | College and university education |
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