Japanese universities are going all out to give their American and European counterparts a run for their money in wooing Indian students for higher studies.

Their unique selling proposition: Study in a top notch university in Japan for nearly half the cost of studying in the West.

And backing their efforts are a clutch of top Japanese brands, such as Sony, Canon, Toshiba and Mitsubishi, which are sweetening the offer by promising placements in Japan or in their Indian subsidiaries. More than 1200 Japanese companies are operating in India today.

Tokyo Declaration The new initiative of the Japanese universities gained momentum with the ratification of the Tokyo Declaration for Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Abe in September last year. This was immediately followed up by the Japanese Government assigning University of Tokyo the task of Coordinator for Study in Japan Project (India) in October.

Subsequently, four Indian universities projects, including IIT, Hyderabad, were selected as Re-Inventing Japan Project, which includes student exchange programmes.

As a next step, ten Japanese universities, led by UTokyo, along with Japanese corporate houses, are holding a series of Japan Education summits in India. “We intend to double the number of Indian students in Japan from the current level of 500 in the next five years. Today even, Nepal and Bangladesh have more students in Japan than India,” Miki Matsuo, Project Coordinator, Japan International Cooperation Agency, told BusinessLine on the sidelines of the Japan Education Summit here.

Study cost Currently, China accounts for more than 60 per cent of the total foreign students studying in Japan, around 1.35 lakhs, followed by Korea and Vietnam. Daisuke Kodama, First Secretary, Embassy of Japan, India, said the cost of pursuing higher studies in a Japanese university ranges from ₹10 lakh to ₹13 lakh annually, including hostel fees.

“This is half the cost an Indian student would pay to pursue the same course in Western universities. And Japan universities have world class research facilities,” UB Desai, Director of IIT, Hyderabad, pointed out.

JICA is establishing a new PhD scholarship at Japanese universities for graduates of IIT, Hyderabad, based on an agreement between the countries, aimed at enhancing research network between higher educational institutions and industrial clusters of Japan and IIT, Hyderabad.

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