JOIN US'Japan has plenty to offer Indian students, researchers'
First secretary, Embassy of Japan in India, Kodama Daisuke said, Indian students and researchers have plenty of opportunities in Japan waiting to be tapped.
He was speaking during the inaugural function of an international conference on ‘Science and Technology: Future Challenges and Solutions’, organised by the Indian JSPS Alumni Association, in association with the University of Mysore, as part of its centenary celebrations, and Nanotechnology department of Visvesvaraya Technological University, at Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar auditorium, of the Senate Bhavan in Manasagangothri, Mysuru, on Monday. The conference is also sponsored by Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) and Indian Space Research Organisation.
Pointing out that Indian students were just 900 out of two lakh students from foreign countries studying in Japan, Kodama Daisuke said, considering the expenses on education and the probability of conversion of student visa to work visa, Japan has a lot to offer to Indians.
“Chinese are the highest beneficiaries as 90,000 students are presently studying in Japan. While a student has to spend at least Rs 20 lakh per year in the Massachusets Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, the maximum expenditure for a student per year in a Japanese university is Rs 3.5 lakh. The chances of conversion of a student visa to work visa in Japan is almost 90%. Jobs are also aplenty, if the student shows some inclination to learn Japanese language,” he said.
Daisuke said, Japan is the best place for studies and research, and JSPS aims at attracting talented researches from all over the world.
“Japan has 24 Nobel prize winners and three Field Prize winners. There are 41 world’s top most universities in Japan. At least, 54 companies of Japan figure in the Forbes list of 500. Besides, Japan is safe and hygienic. Its culture and places are attractive,” he said.
Vice president of JSPS Masayuki Inoue said, issues like food security and poverty can be resolved by mutual collaboration in education and research. Stating that JSPS has been supporting Indian researchers since 1965, he said, the establishment of the IJAA has given a boost to JSPS’ activities in India.
“Fifty years ago, when I went to Tehran, the flight took more than 30 hours to reach New Delhi, on the way. Now the world has shrunk.
Travelling and communication is saving a lot of our time, so we should network, build and strengthen scientific research for the good of mankind,” he said.
Chairman of IJAA D Sakthi Kumar said, Japan is a technological giant and India has plenty of human resources, if both countries join hands, there will be great changes on the world scenario.
The two-day sessions have been planned at the neighbouring Vignan Bhavan.