On July 7, 2025, the Consortium for Promotion of International Student Employment at Ehime University held its annual meeting at Ehime University.
The Consortium for Employment Promotion of Foreign Students at Ehime University was established in 2023 by Ehime University, which was selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) for the “Foreign Student Employment Promotion Program,” with the aim of promoting the development, employment, and retention of highly skilled foreign human resources in the Shikoku region through industry-government-academia-industry collaboration. As the three-year program enters its final year, this meeting was held to report on the implementation status to date and to discuss how to make the program self-sustaining in the future.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Hiroshige Nishina, the chairman of the Consortium, gave the following words of encouragement: “In Ehime Prefecture, the number of foreign workers in specialized and technical fields is increasing significantly, and the use of foreign students with college degrees or higher may become indispensable for the development of local industries. In order to maintain and improve the “sum of knowledge” of our country, i.e., “population x intellectual capacity,” it is necessary to accept excellent foreign students and promote their employment in Japan. I hope that today’s exchange of opinions will promote the future employment and retention of excellent foreign students in Ehime and Shikoku, and lead to the revitalization of the region.
At the meeting, Ms. Momoko Sugiyama, Director of the Ehime Trade Information Center of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), was elected as the vice president of the Consortium for Promotion of Employment of International Students from this fiscal year. Afterwards, Ms. Tomoko Izuki, Director of the International Student Employment Promotion Program Promotion Office, reported on the implementation status of the FY2024 program and presented a draft project plan for FY2025, sharing the issues that came to light in FY2024 and the measures to be taken in FY2025. Following the presentation by Deputy Director Osamu Kobayashi, there was a lively and constructive exchange of opinions among the attendees, including the future self-startup of the program and how it should work together.
Through this conference, the prefectural government, economic organizations, and cooperating institutions and companies worked together to share a framework and awareness of how to more effectively promote employment support for foreign students. The Promotion Office will continue to promote this project by strengthening cooperation toward the realization of a multicultural society.
(Director, Ehime Trade Information Center, Japan External Trade Organization)
＜Institute for International Relations, Office of Job Placement Program for International Students