EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA TO HIGH SCHOOL IN JAPAN

Abstract

High schools in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, conducted an environmental engineering education program for international students from Southeast Asia for 13 years from 1998 to 2010. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of the program on former international students and Japanese high schools as of now, 10 years after the end of the environmental engineering program. International students stayed in a Japanese home for a year and learned environmental engineering technology while interacting with Japanese high school students. In order to sort out the different types of exchange activities between former international students and Japanese high schools, and to do a post analysis, we conducted a survey of former international students and Japanese high school students, Southeast Asian and Japanese high school staff and host families. Using the survey data, a logic model for the environmental engineering education program was created. As a result, it was found that three elements of cross-cultural understanding, training agricultural engineers, and acquiring language skills are important for global human resource development. And it was found that the three elements involved four resources/inputs: homestay families, support for language learning, acquisition of agricultural technology, and learning and living experiences in foreign countries. It was found that the four resources exist all over the country, the program is likely to be applicable nationwide, and the global human resource development program can be disseminated anywhere.