Foster human resources who respect tradition and culture and who love Japan and the hometowns that have nurtured said tradition and culture as well as respect for other countries, who can acquire a mindset to contribute to world peace and the development of the international community, substantial language abilities, communication abilities, independent and active characters, spirit of understanding difficult cultures, etc., and who can play active roles globally in various fields.
（Measurement Indicators） |
○ Promote education on tradition and cultures, etc. [Partially re-posted]
- Implement education to accept the traditions and cultures of Japan and hometowns and to assimilate and develop them. Promote activities to enhance arts and culture education and experience opportunities while collaborating and cooperating with elementary and lower secondary schools, museums, theaters, and music halls, etc. Support for activities to provide opportunities where children can encounter first-class arts or opportunities where they can learn the traditions and cultures of the region.
○ Strengthen foreign language education, including English
- In order to promote steady implementation of the new National Curriculum Standards that facilitates further improvement and enhancement of foreign language education through elementary, lower, and upper secondary schools, from the perspective of fostering competencies to communicate in a foreign language, including the introduction of foreign language education to third and fourth grade elementary school students and designating foreign language education as a school subject for the fifth and sixth grade elementary school students, implement comprehensive support, such as integral improvement of fostering, recruiting, and training of teachers, distribution of educational materials and materials for teachers and students, a foreign language （English） core curriculum, and the enhancement of the school guidance system, such as the assignment of special subject teachers and assistant language teachers, etc. including teachers who are granted special certificates, etc.
- Continue to request the establishment of an English Education Improvement Plan in each prefecture, etc., facilitate systematic activity, such as announcing the plan on the website of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, implement continuous follow-up through English Education Status Survey, etc., establish a PDCA cycle steadily, and thereby increase the English abilities of students and teachers and improving the teaching abilities of teachers.
- In order to evaluate the four skills of “Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking” appropriately at the university entrance examination, implement the use of qualification tests and certification tests that are conducted by private companies, etc. in consideration of the impact on applicants for the tests, upper secondary schools, and universities.
○ Support for upper secondary schools, colleges of technology, universities, etc. that engage in outstanding activities for internationalization.
- With the aim of playing an active role with a global viewpoint in and outside Japan, support upper secondary schools that engage in outstanding activities responding to globalization, such as fostering international education, including a wide range of cultures and the ability to resolve problems, etc. as well as fostering language abilities.
- In order to disseminate the International Baccalaureate （IB） and increase IB authorized schools, which fosters abilities corresponding to globalization and enables applicants to acquire qualifications to enroll in universities that are internationally compatible, engage strategically in supporting schools to introduce the IB, establishment of an information provision system, and promotion of utilizing the IB at universities, etc.
- In view of the student market in the world, including Asia, in order to form hub universities, etc. that have an educational organization and environment that are highly accepted internationally and have international competitiveness, provide support mainly to universities engaging in providing classes offered in English or proactively recruiting international faculty and young people who acquired degrees overseas, universities engaging in activities for international cooperation related to quality assurance of higher education, colleges of technology and universities, etc. engaging in developing overseas bases or promoting diversity on campuses, etc.
○ Support for the study abroad of Japanese students
- In order to give opportunities to study abroad in upper secondary schools and universities, etc. to young people who have the motivation and ability to play active roles globally in the future, government and private sectors collaborate with each other to enhance activities to foster opportunities for study abroad, including activities to reduce the economic burden of students studying abroad and activities to transmit information related to study abroad and to raise the interest in study abroad in cooperation with persons with the experience of working overseas or study abroad, etc.
- Continue to promote support for long-term study abroad, as well as promoting the fostering of human resources who play active roles globally by using the outcomes of short-term study abroad, including support for short-term study abroad to be conducted as part of the program to foster global human resources at universities, etc., promotion of long-term study abroad for the purpose of obtaining academic degrees for persons with experience of short-term study abroad, and support for activities to establish outcomes of short-term study abroad, etc.
○ Develop the environment to accept foreign students.
- In order to secure excellent foreign students and promote internal internationalization, promote the development of educational organizations and environments that are highly accepted internationally at universities and specialized training colleges, etc., the enhancement of Japanese language programs, etc. In order to provide consistent support for study abroad in Japan from coming to Japan until returning to the home country and thereafter in cooperation with relevant ministries, transmit information to foreigners who desire to study abroad in Japan, provide financial support, such as scholarships, support the employment of foreign students in cooperation with companies, and thereby secure foreign students strategically.
Measures indicated later
○ Promote the education of children studying abroad, students in elementary schools and lower and upper secondary schools who returned to Japan from other countries, and foreign students in elementary schools and lower and upper secondary schools, etc.
○ Promote Japanese language education to foreigners in the community
Target （8） Fostering Human Resources Who Lead Innovation Through Graduate Education Reform, etc.
Foster human resources who can think independently and act based on a high level of expertise and sense of ethics, create new knowledge, generate new values from the knowledge, be able to act globally beyond the various existing frameworks, and can lead innovation.
| （Measurement Indicators） - Increase the enrollment rate of students who completed master's programs to doctoral programs （Reference Indicators） - The number of ventures established from universities - Status of fostering human resources for information technology by industry-academia collaboration |
○ Promote graduate school education reform
- Based on the Third Guidelines on Measures for the Promotion of Graduate School Education, which were established in March 2016, continue to implement graduate school education reform(*2).
- In universities with doctoral programs, implement activities to assure the quality of doctoral degree recipients, to develop educational programs in cooperation with industry, to enhance opportunities for school personnel to accumulate experience in diversified parts of society, and to enhance education in doctoral programs for the researchers, engineers, etc. of companies, etc.
- In addition, in order to attract excellent students and working people from in and outside Japan, enhance diversified economic support for graduate school students. Furthermore, support outstanding graduate schools that have the world’s highest-class abilities for education and research and promote integral education in different fields and cutting-edge education in strong fields of Japan.
- Concerning activities to strengthen the functions of graduate schools, examine specific strategies, take necessary actions, and additionally promote activities, etc. related to defining and building career paths after the completion of graduate school from the perspective of acceptance of adult students and advancement of education in cooperation with other institutions.
○ Foster and promote activities of young researchers and diversified human resources who lead science technology innovation
- Based on the Fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan, promote activities, including defining career paths for young researchers, developing environments where high abilities and motivation can be fulfilled at a maximum based on the career stage, supporting funding for young researchers, etc. In particular, for excellent young researchers, promote systems where they can play active roles in independent and free research environments while assuming a stable post. In addition, concerning diversified human resources who lead science and technology innovation, implement activities to establish career paths in cooperation between industry, academia, and government and foster and ensure human resources.
○ Promote strengthening research abilities
- Based on the Fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan, in order to promote academic research and strategic and on-demand basic research that is the basis for implementing activities to foster human resources who lead innovation, engage in reforms and enhancements while giving consideration to how the two are balanced. In addition, for Japan to exert its presence in the world, in addition to promoting interdisciplinary and integrated cross-disciplinary research and international joint research projects, we are forming a world-class research center that will attract leading researchers from throughout Japan and around the world.
○ Promote engineering education at colleges of technology.
- In order to respond to social reform, such as a Super Smart Society （Society 5.0）, with the aim of fostering practical and creative engineers in the field of cybersecurity for which social requests are high, IoT, robots, etc., promote the advancement of colleges of technology, including the establishment of joint education programs with universities and the expansion of the strength and characteristics of each college of technology with the axes of “fostering human resources who lead new industry,” “contribution to the community,” and “acceleration and promotion of internationalization.”
○ Promote education to increase excellent abilities and characteristics
- In order to promote activities to increase the abilities of students in elementary schools and lower and upper secondary schools through provision of education to cultivate creativity and opportunities for learning science and mathematics, etc., promote lesson improvement from the perspective of proactive, interactive and authentic learning and support upper secondary schools, etc. that provide advanced education on science and mathematics.
- Promote activities to increase the interest and education of students in elementary schools and lower and upper secondary schools on science and technology, science, mathematics, and manufacturing through the use of external human resources and provision of opportunities outside schools, and enhance the opportunities to provide education in cooperation with universities and private groups, etc. in order to increase greatly the abilities of students in elementary schools and lower and upper secondary schools who have outstanding motivation and abilities in the fields of science and mathematics and the opportunities where students in lower and upper secondary schools and higher education institutions etc. in and outside Japan study and work together and increase their abilities.
- Promote the expansion of the system where diversified abilities are evaluated by university entrance examinations, etc. and early admission entrance to universities, etc.
○ Foster abilities to use IT and data
- In order to foster information literacy, including the ability to think logically as a way of programming, in elementary and secondary education, promote development of educational materials by private sectors related to programming education in public-private collaboration consortium, and promote activities to build a system that enables schools to use external human resources. In addition, promote the provision of opportunities to provide education in collaboration with universities and private groups, etc. in order to largely increase the abilities of students in elementary schools and lower and upper secondary schools who have outstanding motivation and abilities.
- Concerning engineering education system reform that is necessary for fostering human resources based on information technology, which facilitates industrial structure reform, such as AI, IoT, big data, etc., implement fundamental review of vertical structures for each faculty, review and implement more flexible education years, such as consistent education for bachelors’ and masters’ degrees, and mathematics and science and data science education, etc. by the university as a whole beyond the framework of special fields regardless of whether it is a humanities course or science course. In addition, strengthen enhancement of the fostering function of global management human resources who have high expertise with companies, etc. and management human resources who lead industry, etc. in local areas in cooperation between universities, etc. and industry, and promote activities for students in doctoral programs and persons who obtained doctoral degrees, etc. to acquire skills, such as data science, etc.
○ Foster entrepreneurship that creates and leads the new society
- In order to expand the horizon of human resources who have the entrepreneurship to take on the challenge of the creation of new value based on the Fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan, foster diversified human resources by providing opportunities of exchange with entrepreneurs and opportunities for exposure to diversified cultures and by providing places where people who want to be entrepreneurs gather and contact points and networks with excellent entrepreneurs and supporters, etc.
Target （9） Fostering Human Resources in Various Fields, including Sports, Culture, etc.
Foster athletes in the next generation who are expected to be successful in Olympic and Paralympic Games and human resources who create and support arts and culture in order to inherit, develop, and transmit Japanese art and culture permanently. In addition, foster professional human resources who lead the development of diversified growing fields in Japan.
（Reference Indicators） |
○ Build a strategic system, etc. to identify and develop next generation athletes
- Based on the “Sport Basic Plan,“ support effective identifying and developing of promising athletes by using community networks, support intensive fostering and strengthening of sports and promising athletes who may acquire medals, and promote organizing National Sports Festivals from the perspective of further contribution to improving international competitiveness, including identifying and developing athletes.
- In order to increase sports integrity(*3) and to increase the value of sports additionally, eliminate breaches in compliance by persons related to sports, physical punishment, violence, etc. in cooperation with sports groups, and promote instruction at schools in cooperation with the Japan Anti-Doping Agency, etc., and thereby prevent doping and promote fair play by athletes.
- Collaborate with sports groups and educational institutions, etc. so that athletes can engage in increasing their competitiveness safely, implement activities for dual careers to consider overall life design, including a career as an athlete and after retirement through enhancement of learning support for athletes and holding seminars, etc., and promote support for forming careers by promoting the employment of athletes and by the expansion, etc. of teaching opportunities in the community.
○ Foster artists, etc. and implement promoting measures for arts and culture
- Provide opportunities for training in and outside Japan for upcoming artists and opportunities to return the results of training, and support for fostering professional human resources necessary for holding projects, such as theaters and music halls, etc. In addition, provide opportunities to expose children to excellent arts and culture and foster in children abundant sense and imagination. Furthermore, promote fostering human resources by providing opportunities for excellent creators who support media arts to create works and to exchange with overseas creators. Moreover, facilitate understanding of social meaning, etc. of persons who will lead repair of cultural properties, and enhance opportunities where children who lead cultural properties in the future are exposed to traditional values from childhood, and can deepen understanding.
○ Foster professional human resources who lead the development of diversified growing fields in Japan
- In universities and professional training colleges, engage in the development of practical education programs in cooperation with relevant ministries and industry in order to foster professional human resources who lead the development of diversified fields in Japan, such as sightseeing, agriculture, design, fashion, healthcare, IT, content, etc.
Re-posted measures
○ Promote practical vocational education at higher education institutions
*1 It refers to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. It was announced by the Council of Europe in 2001 as one that provides high transparency and a comprehensive foundation for the creation of language syllabi or curriculums, the design of materials for study guidance, and the evaluation of foreign language operation abilities.
*2 Directions for graduate school education reform were presented in “Graduate School Education in the New Era” （September 5, 2005; Central Council for Education）; “Graduate School Education in a Globalizing Society - For Persons who Completed Graduate School to Take Active Roles in Diversified Fields in the World - （Proposal）” （January 31, 2011; Central Council for Education）; “Graduate Education Reforms Leading the Future: Advanced “Knowledge Professionals” Development through Collaborations with Society” （Summary of Discussions） （September 15, 2015, Subcommittee of the Central Council for Education）; as well as “Guidelines on Measures for the Promotion of Graduate School Education” （Decision of Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; First: fiscal year 2006 to 2010; Second: fiscal year 2011 to 2015）.
*3 Integrity （honesty, soundness, and nobleness） in sports is not clearly defined; however, it is a concept valued internationally based on the idea that it is a conditions where there are no dishonesty, such as doping, spot-fixing, illegal betting, violence, harassment, discrimination, lack of group governance, etc., and it is achieved by persons involved in sports acting honestly based on their normative awareness.
（Education Policy Bureau Policy Division）