Send young people outside ! Why international exchange is important●Kiyoshi KUROKAWA
Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies / Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo

Great changes in the world
Over the last two decades, the world has undergone rapid andgreat changes. A unified market economy has developed since
the end of the Cold War, and the world has been connected via
the Internet with the advent of the World Wide Web. We have
now entered a world said to be globalized and flat. As science and technology advance rapidly, the Web era has speededup and promoted social changes. The social environment in thisWeb era has completely changed from that of ten or twenty years
ago. Changes will be even more drastic in the last decade.
In Japan, GDP has remained stagnant, with almost no change
since the collapse of the Land Bubble in 1990. The country has
experienced the Lost Two Decades, and is now about to enter
the Lost Three Decades. Outside Japan, the world experienced
the burst of the Dot-Com Bubble ten years ago, the September
11 attacks of 2001, the Lehman Shock of 2008 and subsequent
great changes in global economic conditions. It is also amazing tosee the growth momentum of the fast-growing emerging economies, including China.
The world has come to compete in acquiring and developing
people as human resources. This is due to the significant
increase in the scope and speed of the spreading of one person s
influence on the world and social values. It may also be said to be
a competition to produce and acquire such influential humanresources. Times have changed, from laptops to today s smartphones and iPad. If we consider the effects of e-mail, Google,
Facebook and Twitter upon society, the issues facing Japan areclear.
People with a global career bear Japan s future
In the global era, it is each individual person that ultimately creates values in society. These varied people, forming organizations
flexibly when necessary, lead the changing world and Japan in
the global context with a sense of speed. The world is now competing. It is no longer within the conventional framework ofJapan, the United States and Europe. The entire world is shifting
towards competing in and challenging global issues.
In Japan, organizations came first, to which people weretrained to adapt. People were developed to suit society and organizations. The role of the university can be said to have been amechanism teaching conventional values and basic skills to thoseenrolling based on the standard deviation score system. For
better or worse, the spread of university education made campus
life basically a four-year moratorium.
As the world becomes globalized, an increasing number ofyoung people throughout the world, who seek better opportunities, are advancing to or studying at overseas universities, especially in the United States and Britain. The competition is severe.
These universities have proven to produce many globally suc-cessful people, and the worldwide network they create has
immeasurable value. In fact, Harvard University is said to havereceived a record application of more than thirty times the number of admissions from around the world in 2010. The university
does not use simultaneous entrance examinations in screening
applicants with ultra-excellent high-school grades. This philosophy is also discussed in Michael Sandel s Justice course.
Great changes in universities
The world s prestigious universities attract many excellent young
people and seek to help them spread their wings around theworld. Over the last decade, it has become clear that universities
in the United States and some in Britain have a lead in the world
by reputation and achievements. It is the result of assessments
made by society on not only research but also education andgraduates. University rankings fuel this assessment. While several Japanese universities were highly evaluated, the number ofJapanese universities ranking in the global top 200 is low in comparison with the countr y s population, GDP, and university
advancement rate. Other than competing to acquire excellent students at the stage of their enrollment, Japanese universities haveaccepted their position in the domestic society that exalts bureaucracy and looks down on citizens.
Excellent researchers move across borders seeking a better
research environment. In a flat world, they gather at any universities in the world where excellent students and graduate students
gather. A global virtuous cycle is formed. The common language
here is broken English, and the individual s personality, ability,and trust hold significance. English does not refer to good pronunciation.
Japan s chemistry is strong
Japan has a history and tradition of producing distinguished forefathers in chemistry. Not only universities but corporations also
have the strength. Their strength in chemistry is apparent fromthe historic achievement of receiving ten Nobel Prizes in the pastten years, which has given Japanese people energy and confidence. Four were received in physics and six in chemistry. Recipients of the Prize in chemistr y are Hideki Shirakawa in 2000,Ryoji Noyori in 2001, Koichi Tanaka in 2002, Osamu Shimomura
in 2008, and Akira Suzuki and Eiichi Negishi in 2010.
Are there any features common to these recipients? Of the six
awarded in chemistr y, Shimomura and Negishi spent most of
their careers in the United States. The other four were in Japan
doing research at places not necessarily as highly privileged as
the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University. Mr. Tanaka also
drew attention for being a corporate researcher without a Ph.D.
Mr. Negishi, after studying abroad, returned to the laboratoryof a leading corporation, but soon left for the United States cut-CHEMISTRY & CHEMICAL INDUSTRY │ Vol.64-6 June 2011485

ting off his retreat route. It meant separation from Japanese society. Mr. Suzuki, while belonging to Hokkaido University, shared alaboratory with Mr. Negishi in the United States and produced
results that led to the co-receiving of the Nobel Prize, showing
Japan s traditional strength in this field of study. Messrs. Noyoriand Shirakawa are also persons with a unique and attractive personality.
What these recipients have in common is that they seem tohave been greatly influenced by their experience of overseas education, just as we have. The experience of a different world, especially at highly-regarded universities and laboratories, is valuable.
Another common aspect is that they were not in the mainstream
in Japan. Thus, in general, it can be said that the determination to
go independent and compete in the United States has a highprobability of producing high-impact results when funded withresearch grants.
Future human resources
In this flat globalized world, real experience of different culturesduring youth is very important in seeing oneself and broadening
one s career options. This experience is essential especially topeople assuming national or organizational leadership positions.
Overseas experience should be recommended aggressively. To
this end, university departments play an important role.
Although there were calls for the internationalization of graduate schools, the trend today of leading universities is to proactively promote international experience among undergraduate
students. One university says that 50% of its undergraduate students study overseas for at least half a year before graduation.
The university aims to have their students see and learn from thevarious realities of this globalized world. Many are successful infinding their goals. If they find it appropriate to pursue their goalsby means of advancing on to graduate school, they will thendecide to pursue such career there. The emphasis is clearly laidon nurturing young people and having them find their careers. A
typical example is MIT s D-Lab. In addition, there are internships
at domestic and overseas companies, promotion of student
exchange programs such as the EU s Erasmus Programme, andthe practice of taking a gap year. Each university is making all
kinds of ef for ts to help provide students with future career
options so that they may be successful in a globalized world. Boldefforts are also being carried out at departments of Princeton
University.
Even in graduate school, the largest and second largest number of students recently acquiring a Ph.D. in the United States
was from China s Tsinghua University and Peking University,and the third from UC Berkeley, reflecting the vigor of Asian students. The number of Japanese undergraduate and graduate students studying in the United States and Britain is significantly
low, even in proportion to the population. The future activities ofthese students studying abroad will not be confined to one country but will span over two or three countries. Such is the world
today.
In the age of globalization, nothing is more important thancross-border networks of individual people, since issues andopportunities in the world have become globalized. Issues are nolonger confined to one country, and global interdependence is all
the more increasing. None of the issues on energy, security, food486

化学と工業 │ Vol.64-6 June 2011

and water are confined to one country.
Are young people inward-looking?
Young people in Japan are said to be inward-looking, but I disagree with this. The parents of today s university students are thegeneration living through Japan s sluggish economy since thebubble burst. Their children have not heard much invigorating
talk at home through their lives. They are the generation that
expects a hierarchical society, hiring of new graduates, lifetime
employment, and the seniority system. It is Japanese society thatis misleading young people as to whether to become a civil servant or find employment at a large company. Such a society offering employment to students in their third year of university isunheard of in the world. Lifetime employment can no longer becontinued.
Moreover, generations of baby boomers and their elders went
overseas because they considered the assignment a big advantage for promotion. They did not cut off their retreat route on
their own. The same applied to overseas study also. Most graduate students were on business trips, dispatched to graduate
schools from companies and Government ministries and institutions, funded with other people s money, and returning to thesame place of work after a couple of years. It was the same withuniversities. Faculty members studied overseas for two or three
years and returned to their universities. Whether it was universities, companies or Government ministries and institutions, there
was no accelerated promotion skipping the years spent abroad
after their return. Studying overseas was just a part of the hierarchical society and seniority system.
Today s youth know better. An increasing number of young
people are going out to the outside world to find what they
really want to do. It is very encouraging.
Let us adults begin by sending young people study abroad, be
it a leave of absence or for a short period, then back them up,encourage them, and support them as much as possible throughscholarships. It is only to the young generation that we canentrust our future.
Universities and graduate schools as well as faculty members
should use their budgets and research expenses to send many
students overseas even for a short period, and have them acquirea Ph.D., if possible. Not many faculty members recognize this as
their mission, which greatly disturbs me. They should put into
practice whatever they can before giving reasons why they cannot do it, such as a shortage in government funding.
1) Kiyoshi Kurokawa http://www.kiyoshikurokawa.comⒸ 2011 The Chemical Society of JapanThe commentary shown here is written by a commentator
invited by the Commentary Committee of the Society, and theauthor is basically responsible for the contents. The Society
acknowledges that this is important and worth publishing.
Opinions and comments of the readers are highly appreciated.
E-mail: ronsetsu@chemistry.or.jp

The Kagaku to Kogyo (Chemistry & Chemical Industry)
Editorial is responsible for the English-translated article.