Activity report
2010 JAOS Spring General Meeting
June 25, 2010
at Shibuya Forum 8 in Tokyo
45 participants, representing 31 JAOS member organizations (9 of which were present by proxy) attended the 2010 JAOS Spring General Meeting. 2009 financial accounts were settled while budget proposals for the 2010 fiscal year were ratified. Each task team reported on their activities during the first half of 2009 and announced their plans for the final 6 months of 2010. After being nominated by the administrative board, 3 new members were confirmed to the board: Mr. Minoru Yamada (Global Partners), Ms. Yukari Kato (Ryugaku Journal) and Mr. Ryutaro Sato (JTB Gaiareku). Moreover, the following JAOS council positions were also nominated and accepted. ♦ JAPANext Project Advisory Committee This project involves expanding instruction and support activities in order to help the next generation of young people to utilize ‘overseas study’ in building their careers. More simply, it hopes to enlarge the prospect of studying abroad. Within the government’s ‘New Strategy for Growth’, a goal of “Sending 300,000 Japanese students overseas for study and research exchange while welcoming 300,000 quality overseas students into Japan. ” has been put in place. With this in mind, the committee will work together with industry, academia and the government to develop an action plan for increasing the number of people taking part in overseas study. ♦ ‘Overseas Study Language Ability’ Research and Advisory Committee For improving the language ability of Japanese study abroad candidates, constructing and popularizing a support system (‘study abroad English’, ‘study abroad Chinese’, etc.) is an urgent issue. This committee will gather recommendations and research on how this area is progressing. ♦ ‘Inbound Study Abroad’ Promotion Committee FELCA’s worldwide network, of which JAOS is a part, includes an infrastructure that can possibly contribute to Japan’s “Project for Increasing Inbound Students”. This committee will consider how to advance the government’s agenda of ‘Hosting 300,000 Overseas Students’ by making best use of FELCA and other measures. These activities will also help to create a new market for JAOS membership organizations. ♦ ‘International Student Employment’ Support Committee This committee will investigate and promote ways of supporting the employment efforts of Japanese students returning from overseas study as well as foreign students currently residing in Japan.