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Against the background of the advancement, increased complexity and globalization of society and the economy in recent years, it is necessary to train professionals with advanced specialist skills who can respond to the diverse demands of society, and to cultivate human resources rich in the creativity required to create new industries and an entrepreneurial spirit, in order to build a vigorous society in Japan and maintain and strengthen Japan's competitiveness in the international community. Furthermore, it has been suggested that for universities to fulfill their function of social contribution through cooperation and exchange with industry, it is important to develop joint companies and university education programs, and promote internships (work experience), etc. The necessity of cooperation and exchange between universities and local communities and industry is increasing more and more.

For these reasons, MEXT is supporting the following kinds of measures to improve education based on cooperation between academia and industry.

MEXT is supporting cooperative measures by academia and industry such as the development and implementation of education programs that appropriately respond to the demands of society, and are designed to train outstanding professionals with specialized skills who have a high level of job awareness, and the creativity and ability to bring about technological innovation and the creation of new industries.

Specifically, MEXT is supporting measures such as the following: 1) the development and implementation of education programs to train entrepreneurs and management human resources for business management and management of technology (MOT), etc., and to train specialized human resources that promote the establishment of new businesses using intellectual properties, etc.; and 2) the development and implementation of education programs to accept adult students from companies, etc., and allow them to brush up on new knowledge and skills, etc.

To promote adult brushup education in graduate schools, the new establishment of courses (development of majors) in fields for which social demand is high has been carried out, and by FY2003 such courses were newly established in 25 national universities (36 courses).

An internship refers to work experience undertaken by a student while still studying that is related to his or her major or future career. The benefits of internships include improving education, stimulating the enthusiasm of students for study, and training for a high level of job awareness. In addition to education benefits, there are increasing expectations of the role of internships in contributing to cooperation and exchange between higher education and local communities and industry, and the building of schools that are open to society. The internship implementation rate is increasing year by year ( Figure 1-1-18 ).

MEXT is implementing a variety of measures to promote internships. These include: 1) holding national forums at which people from universities and businesses exchange information and opinions; 2) creating and distributing guidebooks and collections of case studies; and 3) providing financial support for universities, etc. that implement internships.

Figure 1-1-18 State of Implementation of Internships