Eri Nakamura
October，2020
Abstract
This paper proposes the assessment of very short-term (less than one month) overseas study programs, and provides future perspectives for implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the Japanese higher education system.
The Japanese government has encouraged universities to promote short-term international exchange programs and overseas internships for their students in the context of globalization. The number of participants in very short-term overseas study programs burgeoned more than three fold in the past decade. Studies on international exchange programs can be divided into two categories: students coming to Japan from foreign countries (inbound) and students going abroad (outbound). However, in Japan, there are much fewer past studies on outbound programs compared to inbound programs, and there are limited studies with objective scientific assessment of very short-term overseas study programs. In order to contribute to global human resource development in Japan, this paper proposes that it is indispensable to evaluate the impact of very short-term overseas programs.
Cultivating global human resources is related to ESD. One of the goals of ESD is to empower learners to think globally and act locally, while respecting cultural diversity. Therefore, ESD is promoted for understanding different cultures across the world. Japanese universities mainly implement three types of ESD: 1) Promotion of overseas exchanges, 2) Development of ESD domestic educators, and 3) Research and Development of ESD. In the past, universities conducted these three types of ESD individually but they rarely connected each activity with one another. This paper proposes that Japanese universities regard very short-term overseas exchange programs as the first step to fostering global human resources and they should provide a bridge between students after the program to cultivate domestic ESD implementation.
