The U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON)

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The U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange(CULCON) is a bi-national advisory panel to the U.S. and Japanese governments that serves to elevate and strengthen the vital cultural and educational foundations of the U.S.-Japan relationship.

Mission

According to its website, CULCON's mission is: “The U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) is a bi-national advisory panel that serves to elevate and strengthen the vital cultural and educational foundations of the U.S.-Japan relationship, and to strengthen connections between U.S. and Japan leadership in those fields. It works to ensure that the best of new ideas for

cultural, educational and intellectual activity and exchange are implemented as operational programs.”[1]

History

The U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) is a program of the

study abroad students in each country by 2020.[4]

CULCON Education Task Force

In January 2013, CULCON members from Japan and the United States met in

Japanese Ministry of Education
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In May 2013 the CULCON Education Task Force issued a Report and Recommendations. Report addresses country specific recommendations as well as bi-national cooperative actions. The Task Force encourages for-profit and nonprofit private sector, the higher education community and the governments for both countries to take specific measures to improve English proficiency of Japanese students, for example, and a recommendation to reform the Japanese academic calendar would enable more Japanese students to study abroad and to internationalize Japanese universities. The Report also examines ways the Japanese hiring practices could be reformed to allow more students to study abroad. Collective actions for both countries include providing additional funding to students to compensate for the high costs of studying abroad.

In addition to recommending these institutional changes, the Task Force Report highlights both governments’ role in creating an environment that will encourage overseas exchange. In June 2014, the Report was presented in Tokyo to

Prime Minister Abe and in Washington D.C. to Undersecretary Tara Sonenshine. Around the same time, Prime Minister Abe announced a series of structural reforms to underpin economic growth. Key themes of the policy include improving English language instruction, included replacing 1500 lecturers in eight Japanese universities with foreign professors, doubling the number of foreign professors who are in Japan now; lifting eight Japanese institutions into the global top 100 in the next ten years (currently, Tokyo University in 27th in the world and Kyoto University is 52nd); using the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to raise the standard of English in bureaucrats and students alike. The plan would mandate that individuals reach or exceed a threshold in scores on the TOEFL to gain college admission and to qualify for government jobs; and finally, collaborate with overseas counterparts to offer joint degrees to encourage studying abroad and learning English. Abe has also asserted that he would like to make English a required course starting from elementary schools and has expressed interest in reducing the financial burden to students in order to allow them to travel and study abroad. Many of the aforementioned reforms are directly correlated with the Recommendations made by the CULCON Education Task Force.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Culcon". Culcon.jusfc.gov. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  2. ^ "カルコン:日米文化教育交流会議＞合同会議＞CULCON XXIII＞the CULCON Report". Jpf.go.jp. 1961-06-22. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  3. ^ "CULCON 50th Anniversary Film". YouTube. 2012-04-16. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  4. ^ "Cultural Relations - Major Documents". Aboutusa.japan.usembassy.gov. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  5. ^ "Submission of the Report of the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) Education Task Force to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ｜ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan". Mofa.go.jp. 2013-06-13. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  6. Embassy of the United States Tokyo, Japan
    . 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  7. ^ "Report of the CULCON Education Task Force" (PDF). Mext.go.jp. Retrieved 2014-03-06.

Bibliography

  • Hayden, Craig. The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2012

External links

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