Speakers
Description
Japan’s policy defines intercultural understanding as a core global competency but often equates it with English proficiency, promoting English-medium instruction and outward-oriented internationalization. Yet graduates of local universities mainly work in local contexts. Interviews with graduates, employers, and career staff at two North Kanto universities reveal limited demand for outward-oriented global skills in local companies, but strong needs for inward-oriented competencies for multicultural coexistence, especially in schools. Curricula remain outward-focused, exposing a structural mismatch.
Abstract section 1: Relevance
As part of Japan’s national policy to cultivate global human resources, MEXT (2012) identified intercultural understanding as one of the core competencies. The notion has been largely equated with English language proficiency (Izumimoto & Iwasaka, 2015), and the promotion of English-medium instruction is assumed to foster global human resources (Toh, 2020). However, graduates of local universities often work in local companies, where such outward-oriented competencies are rarely expected. This study examines the characteristics of global competencies required at two local universities to clarify the gap between policy-defined global human resources and locally grounded competencies.
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
The findings reveal that many graduates chose local companies and schools, and limited emphasis on global competencies was placed in those workplaces, whereas elementary schools, in particular, demonstrate a strong need for competencies related to immigrant education. The teaching profession faces a growing number of children with foreign backgrounds, creating an increasing demand for the ability to adapt to multicultural coexistence within domestic communities, or inward-oriented global competence. Despite this, the universities’ curricula remain largely outward-oriented, highlighting a structural gap between policy-defined global human resources and underscoring the need to reconceptualize global human resource development in Japanese local universities.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
A survey conducted by the Japan Business Federation (2022) indicates that intercultural understanding and foreign-language ability rank among the least emphasized competencies expected of university graduates (Okado, 2024). The research questions, therefore, are whether the high-level national targets for English proficiency and intercultural competence do not necessarily align with students’ actual career paths in local labor markets, and what constitutes key conditions for fostering regionally grounded global human resources in local universities.
Abstract section 3: Content/method
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 graduates currently employed at international businesses, local companies, and public schools. The analysis explores their interactions with foreign nationals, patterns of language use, and perceived professional competencies, alongside a review of the universities’ curricula and programs related to intercultural education. In addition, interviews were conducted with two local companies (one international and one domestic) and with university career and international exchange support staff to investigate employers' and supporters’ perspectives.
Abstract section 5: References
Izumimoto, C., & Iwasaka, Y. (2015). Kyōin yōsei daigaku ni okeru ryūgakusei to nihonjin gakusei no kyōdō o tōshita ibunkakan nōryoku no ikusei [Fostering intercultural competence through collaboration between international and Japanese students at a teacher-training university]. Research Bulletin of the Center for Teacher Education for the Next Generation, 1, 135–143.
The Japan Business Federation. (2022). Saiyō to daigaku kaikaku e no kitai ni kansuru ankēto kekka [Survey results on expectations for recruitment and university reform]. https://www.keidanren.or.jp /policy/2022/004_kekka.pdf
MEXT. (2012). Gurōbaru jinzai no ikusei ni tsuite (Document 2) [On the development of global human resources]. https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo3 /047/siryo/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2012/02/14/1316067_01.pdf
Okado, H. (2024). Shakaiteki nīzu to “musubitsukeru” “musubitsukenai” shiten kara eigo-kyōiku o kangaeru [Reconsidering English language education from the perspective of social needs: To “connect” or “not to connect”]. In F. Tanaka, T. Kakihara, & E. Nozawa (Eds.) The multi-dynamics of language education: Diverse directions of learning (pp. 29–41). Akashi Shoten.
Toh, G. (2016). English as medium of instruction in Japanese higher education: Presumption, mirage or bluff? Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39705-4
| Title | Reconceptualizing Global Competencies in Local Universities |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | College and university education |