Conference: Foreign Graduate Employment in Japanese Companies – Implications for Japanese Studies Teaching & Research

Japanese companies are important employers of university graduates with knowledge on Japan and Japanese language skills. Yet, much of this employment has happened in overseas subsidiaries and often graduates have seen limited career opportunities. Recently, Japanese companies have begun to hire graduates for employment in Japan itself and have also reemphasized the need to localize their overseas subsidiaries. These trends coincide with universities having become more interested in the employability of their graduates.

This conference, organised by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with SOAS, University of London, aims to assess these developments in foreign graduate employment in Japanese companies and to explore how Japanese studies and language teaching as well as research should respond. The conference brings together international representatives of Japanese studies and language departments, Japanese company executives, employment agents, as well as Japanese studies students and graduates to explore these issues.