The purpose of this study is to analyze the learnings of Japanese students who study in Korea. By analyzing their reports, questionnaires, interview data, their awareness to different language and cultures, orientations for their future works are observed. The study will contribute to programs for ‘Global Human Resources’ (MEXT 2012).
This study started to explore the learning trajectory of Japanese students who study abroad by analyzing the factors to facilitate or hinder the development of their international competency especially in terms of their carrier development. Recently, bringing up 'Global Human Resources' (MEXT 2012) has been considered very important for university education in Japan and various overseas programs have been encouraged to start. Although there has been several quantitative researches (Yokota 2016; Ohta 2018) and the studies on short-term study abroad (Fujiwara 2016; Arai & Okada 2017), more studies focusing on long-term programs are still in need to discuss. To conduct the study, a mixed method is applied to examine the cases of students who do not choose English-speaking countries. The authors observed 60 university students in the International department who were on one-year study program to Korea from 2016 -2019. The study focuses on 1) their experience in daily lives besides their Korean language lessons and their acceptance of Korean culture; 2) their emotional changes before and after the program; 3) their persistency of their study after coming back to Japan. Qualitative research method is adopted on students' reports, questionnaires, and interviews, and for quantitative research, EQ analysis we modified based on Bar On Emotional Quotient Inventory(Bar-On,2006) is used. To process the data, both NVivo and SPSS are used. As a result, students realized the importance of learning languages and cultures besides Korean and English, the importance of communicating with the local people, and had orientations to actively work in the international society. Our quantitative pilot research show students EQs such as inter/intra personal and stress management scales have increased after studying abroad. Skills of problem solving and objective observation stay as before. The further study will help develop the better programs for the education of 'Global Human Resources'.
