Naoko SASAKI (佐々木 直子)

In these days, globalization is an important topic in Japan. It is strongly expected to provide more opportunities for university students to develop foreign language competence and intercultural competence in the curriculum of university education. The number of Japanese university students who participate in short-term study abroad programs has been increasing drastically based on the strong promotion from Japanese government and industry. In this paper, the effects of short-term language training programs are considered, analyzing the results of the questionnaire for the students interested in studying abroad, and the reports of the participants of the short-term language programs.

This paper is a report on a week-long international student program for UEC's partner university, Harbin Engineering University (China), carried out by Center for International Programs and Exchange (CIPE), UEC, in August 2014. Financially supported by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) under SAKURA Exchange Program in Science, CIPE successfully implemented this short-term program. In an increasingly globalized world, international student mobility is an essential topic in the world's higher education. Under the trend, "The 300,000 International Students Plan" was proposed by the Prime Minister in 2008 in Japan. In order to foster global student mobility, short-term exchange programs will further play an important role since they can provide opportunities for more students compared to traditional longer programs (semester or year-long), with the relatively lower cost, less influence of the academic calendar of the home institution, and so on. However, we face some issues to overcome to continue and develop short-term programs.