Joint Training Program between Nagoya
University and UK Companies / University
Spin-offs in Animal Biotechnology
Opening Up of New Career Paths for Graduate Students
through Placement in International R & D Activities

Project of Educational and Research Collaborative Internship
Program in Animal Biotechnology
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University
Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan

PurposeIn order to build up a system of international cooperative research in the field of animal
biotechnology, animal stem cell engineering and healthcare biotechnology, the Graduate Schoolof Bioagricultural Sciences at Nagoya University has initiated an educational program forgraduate students by placing them in the research and development units of companies, including
those affiliated to established research institutes and universities (spin-offs/spin-outs) in theUnited Kingdom. This educational and research collaborative internship program is supported by
the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) which, inorder to build a vigorous society and maintain and strengthen Japan’s competitiveness in theinternational community, is now anxious to produce human resources with an entrepreneurial
spirit and the abundant creativity required to develop new industries (Human ResourcesDevelopment). By organizing the planning and evaluation committee, we will evaluate theachievements of every student and will select students to be sent for successive long periods oftime. The immediate goal of this program is to train graduate students to be awarded a PhD basedon collaborative research.
Generally, an internship refers to work experience undertaken by a student while still
studying specialized subjects that are related to his or her major or future career. However, thisconventional type of internship (usually, a program for undergraduate students) is not sufficient tomeet the stronger demands for personnel with a high level of creativity and the ability to produce
technological innovations and create new industries based on intellectual property. Thus, students
on PhD courses in graduate schools are recommended to be trained, not simply as researchers but
also as manpower with such potential, via the promotion of collaborations between industry andacademia. We expect that such students will find their future sphere of activities through theopening up of career paths from a worldwide perspective.

Framework
A planning and evaluation committee has been organized where the outline of the programis discussed. This committee also selects the students to be sent. The candidates will berecommended to this committee by ten professors from Nagoya University and one professor

Recommendation

Japan

Grad. Sch. Bioagric. Sci. Univ.Tokyo
Nagoya Univ.
Mie Univ.
Shinshu Univ.

Planning &Evaluation
Committee

Advisors

education & evaluation

Students
Selection

Placement

ReportInternational
Workshop &Educational
SeminarTraining
AdviceUK

IndustrySpin-offs

Companies

Evaluation

Training

Cooperation
Researchers

Universities / Research Institutes

Academiaeach from the University of Tokyo, Mie University and Shinshu University. These professors
will hold joint workshops to initiate international collaborative research with researchers at UKcompanies. The selected students will be sent to R & D units of UK companies and theirsupervision will be based on discussions between the advisors in Japan and the researchers in theUK. At the end of each training period, every student will be responsible for reporting back theirachievements at an international educational seminar. The planning and evaluation committee
will select students to be sent upon successive occasions.

Doctorate-awarding

The higher education system in Japan is different from the one in UK. The undergraduate
course has four academic years (starting from April and ending in March).
In Nagoya
University School of Bioagricultural Sciences, for instance, during the fourth year of the course,
students do research for their graduation theses under supervision of teaching staff in laboratories.
Most graduates (-80%) continue their laboratory work in the graduate school for two more years
under the advisory professors and are awarded Master’s degree (equivalent to MPhil). Generally,
three more years are required for qualified students to earn the Doctoral degree (PhD) in the
successive doctorate course program.

Comparison of University Education Systems between
UK and Japan
Undergraduatestudies

Postgraduate studies
Master’scourse

Doctoralcourseyears

Japan

123(Bioscience)UK

123(Bioscience)

4Degreeyears

12

12Master

121 (taught course)
1 2
1 2 3
1 2 3 43PhD
MSc
MPhil
PhD

Academic year: September to June (UK); April to March (Japan)

The goal of this joint-training program is to train at least five PhD students to be awarded adegree from our faculty based on their research done at UK companies or university spin-offs.
For this, every PhD student needs to have at least two papers published. To achieve this goal, theresearch project for every student needs to be properly evaluated and needs to be ongoing. We
understand that the confidentiality of the research project will also be important for intellectualproperty. We will be pleased to exchange a Confidentiality Agreement for this purpose. We willassign an advisory professor to every student, who will cooperate with the supervisor at UK
companies in taking personal care of the student.

Financial support and benefits
This program started October 2005 and will continue until March 2010; a budget of about
eight million yen (about 40,000 GBP) will be provided every year from the Japanese government

(MEXT). In addition to Doctorate course students (PhD students), students in the final stage ofthe undergraduate course (the fourth year of the four year undergraduate course) or at thebeginning of the Master course (the first two years of our graduate course) are also eligible forsupport as long as they intend to go on to the Doctorate course (additional three years to theMaster course). The budget covering travel expenses (¥ 200,000), living expenses (¥300,000),
bench fees (¥300,000) and insurance for a stay of three months, for instance, will become¥800,000 per student. In the 2005 academic year, we sent seven students for one to three months
as a preliminary attempt. In the second year, we will extend the period longer (three to fivemonths including two months of the summer vacation). PhD students may stay longer for theirresearch activities. Our plan is to keep sending the same students after evaluation of theirachievements each year. Because of the limitation of the budget, however, the total number of thetrainees would be reduced if each student stays longer. We are concerned about living
accommodation cost for the students; 500 GBP per month may not be enough and they may needhelp from the host companies/institutes to find less-expensive accommodation. The amount forthe bench fees may not be enough but we are facing the limits of our budget.
The benefits of internships include improving the education of students and stimulating
their enthusiasm for study. Besides the opening up of career paths for graduate students, we hopethat international collaboration between the British and Japanese partners in the joint training
program for specific research projects will bring about invaluable results which contribute to new
findings from the basics to application and to innovation in animal biotechnology.
Spring 2006

For more information
Please contact
Professor Yasuo Kitagawa, PhD (yasuok@agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp)
Professor Masatoshi Maki, PhD (mmaki@agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp)
Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences
Nagoya University
Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601
Japan
http://www.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/