Make the most of the Government of Japans expanding educational programmes and scholarships, urges Chandana Chandra

Japan. The word floods the mind with brand names such as Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sony, Sharp, Toshiba, Canon, Casio, Fuji, Nikon, Nippon, Nissan, Mazda, etcetera. Indeed, Japanese firms have conquered every inch of the automotive and electronics industries.

Having impressed the world as a technological giant, the country is now going all out to prove its mettle as an education provider. Part of this is directed at attracting more and more international students.

In 2008, when four Japanese scientists won the Nobel Prize, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced the 3,00,000 Foreign Students Plan, a call to increase the number of foreign students from 1,20,000 that year to the given figure by 2020.

We want to strengthen foreign relations through international personnel exchange, particularly student exchange, says Akihiro Oikawa, senior vice-consul of the Consulate General of Japan, Calcutta. India has the brains and Japan the expertise. Exchange of knowledge and skills between the two nations will aid development and contribute to world peace, he adds.

Visitors to Japan can easily experience the entire process of the creation of knowledge to its return to society. Japanese culture is the handiwork of thousands of years of tradition, but not too arrogant towards modern perspectives, says Kumar Shankar Roy, a Calcutta boy who recently came home after completing a two-year diploma in photography. A BA in English literature, Roy was always interested in photography. While learning Japanese in Calcutta, I came to know about the Japan Governments scholarships. I took the qualifying exam and packed off, he says.

After a one-year Japanese language course in Osaka, Roy got admission in photography with specialisation in documentary photography at the Nippon Photography Institute in Tokyo. There are many Indians enrolled in the engineering courses, he adds. Most institutes conduct courses in Japanese. Hence learning the language is a must. It also helps in your social life.

The Japan Government scholarships provide for learning the language. Theres another initiative called Global 30 which allows one to study in English in Japanese universities but at a higher level (postgraduation and above), says Surajit Sinha, advisor, Japan Information Center, Embassy of Japan, New Delhi.

The government offers seven categories of scholarships (by Mext or the scholarship authority of the Japanese Education Board) for Indian students. These are research (33), bachelor degree (3), associate degree or diploma (3), undergraduate professional training certificate course (8), Japanese studies certificate course (8), master degree (6), and undergraduate teacher training certificate course (2). See box for awards available this year.

Students applying for the scholarship examination are not allowed to select an institution beforehand. The Japanese Consulate in India will put you in a college depending on your subject, qualifying exam marks and academic qualification, says an official at the Consulate General of Japan, Calcutta.

Besides these government awards, there are other scholarship programmes for international students. For details, visit www.studyjapan.go.jp .

Last year 534 Indians went to Japan, most of them for doctoral studies and research, informs Sinha. The biotechnology programmes are very popular with Indian students.

Japan has countless educational institutions covering science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, literature, environment, IT, welfare, animation, design and games. Bachelor courses are of four years and master courses two. A professional graduate course takes anywhere between one and three years while a doctorate takes more than five years.

There are training colleges or vocational schools scattered throughout the country. These cover technology, agriculture, medical care, personal care and nutrition, education and welfare, business, fashion and home science, and culture and general education. More and more international students are finding employment in Japan after graduating from these colleges. According to Saburo Nakagome, president of the National Association of Vocational Schools of Japan, it was the graduates of these professional training colleges who created the foundation for Japans economic growth.

Some universities also conduct short-term programmes (one year or less) in English for undergraduate foreign students. These are executed through inter university agreements.

However, education in Japan is not easy on the pocket as the rent for an apartment in Tokyo starts at 50,000 yen (Rs 25,340) and can go up to 5,00,000 yen (Rs 2,53,000) a month. Dormitories are quite affordable but hardly available . But the government has an array of awards for international students to make their lives easier.

A degree is not enough for getting a good job; you need to market yourself well, says PHYLLIS KORKKI

This spring, college seniors in the US are entering a better job market than the class of 2009 faced. Unfortunately, that is not saying much because 2009 was one of the worst years in the history of hiring.

Still, hiring of this years crop of graduates is up 5 per cent over the previous year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

To employers the most desirable majors include accounting, engineering, computing and mathematics, according to Edwin Koc, research director of the association. Companies are also seeking evidence of communication and writing skills, analytical ability and teamwork, Koc said.

Whatever your strengths and weaknesses, you will need to bring your A game to this job market, said Katharine Brooks, director of liberal arts career services at the University of Texas at Austin and author of a career guide called You Majored in What?

Brooks has seen some evidence of an upturn. For example, Facebook just opened an office in Austin with many positions that would be appropriate for new college graduates. But overall, were just talking a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak picture, she said.

That means you cant be casual about your job search, she said, and your rsum, cover letter and interviewing skills must be top notch.

Above all, you need to be able to articulate the value of your degree, she said, especially if you are in the liberal arts, and there isnt a linear connection between what you majored in and the job you are seeking.

Take philosophy majors. There arent a lot of jobs for philosophers. But people use logic to formulate and weigh ideas and to reach conclusions, which can make training in philosophy very effective in the business world, Brooks said. Being able to spell that out concretely, with specific examples, could be crucial to being hired.

English majors face similar hurdles. But in most fields, it is important to write and speak clearly and to see things from different perspectives. A graduate with an English degree who tailors those strengths to a particular job description can make a strong case for being hired.

An understanding of the human condition gained through great literature can be helpful in professions like social work, Brooks said.

Beyond your major, have stories to tell about how your experiences would make you a good employee, suggested Nathan Bennett, co-author of Your Career Game and a professor at the Georgia Tech College of Management.

For example, someone who has been a camp counselor will have leadership stories to tell, he said.

Take full advantage of your schools placement office and alumni network, Bennett said. If you are applying for a job at a bank, talk to a 25 or 26-year-old alumnus there rather than a 45-year-old, he said, because that person will have a better idea of how to get hired at the entry level.

Many new graduates are not sure what they want to do and are worried about taking the wrong job, Brooks said. Remember that no job needs to be permanent.

She uses the metaphor of chaos theory to explain the job search process. Its a complex world, and you cant predict everything, so dont try to, she said. When you are starting in the workforce, Look for opportunities to learn, take a risk, try things out, see what you like, and always be open to the next opportunity, she said.

If you dont like your first job, at least you have learned what you dont like, and you can carry that knowledge to your next job, she said.

Graduates can fall victim to a sense of paralysis if they arent sure what direction to take, Bennett said. People in their early 20s have plenty of time to take chances. After all, their working life is probably going to last at least twice as long as their current age, he said.

Some graduates with little or no work experience may wonder what they have to offer over an applicant with more experience. But recent college graduates are less expensive than more seasoned workers, and that can be an advantage (to the employer, if not the graduates wallet) in a tougher economy.

For one thing, younger people tend to have a stronger grasp of the latest technology, Black said. In addition, this generation of students has been exposed to greater cultural diversity, he said, and they are using the Web and other technology to connect globally.

Add the energy and enthusiasm that new graduates tend to possess and their value is clear.

As Brooks put it, They may not have the experience, but what they have is potential.

Source: New York Times News Service

The modelling world is no longer out of bounds for middle aged women
Juliette Branker, 53, works two jobs. As a customer service agent/Level 4 for the Lowes home improvement store in Garden City, New York, she operates a forklift along with a narrow aisle reach machine and an order picker machine. The other day she unloaded 20 skids of mulch (mulch is really bouncy, you have to drive slowly or itll fall on you) and then did 18 skids of patio-building material. In the winter, she uses a chain saw to trim Christmas trees for customers, and come spring she offers planting advice in the garden store.

In her second job, working as a model for the Ford agency, shes appeared on the Today show five times. A dream job, she said. They send a car for you, feed you, you wear these beautiful clothes, you walk on for about two seconds, they take you home, and you make 0 each time.

Shes also appeared as a savvy business investor on a TV commercial for Edward Jones (earning ,000, plus residuals); as a worldly traveller who speaks six languages for American Express; as a warm, twinkly mom of a seven-year-old for Hallmark; as the face of Weleda skin-care products; and as a middle-aged woman getting welcome relief from rheumatoid arthritis thanks to Cimzia.

Branker would love to model full-time. But being new she was discovered two years ago while taking salsa lessons at Stepping Out Studios in Manhattan she has held on to her ,000-a-year Lowes job. Still, she counts herself lucky. I never would imagine, starting to model at 51 years old, she said.

Her new career is a reflection of changes both in the modelling world and in the consumers being targeted. You have a greying baby-boomer population that still has enormous buying power, said Paulette Ellison, who oversees Fords classic division, which is primarily female models over 40. That demographic needs to be portrayed in a different way.

Ford has long employed middle-age classic models, but it wasnt until two years ago that the numbers got big enough for the agency to create a freestanding division. In the mid-1980s, according to Patty Sicular, Fords archives director, the agency had 12 classic models in New York; by the mid-1990s, 18. That had grown to 40 by 2008, and today there are 54 a sign that despite the recession, boomers continue to have more buying power than most.

In the early 1980s, when Sicular joined Ford, she worked with the young stars, the teenager and 20-something womens division known as the high board for the dazzling money and lifestyle and remembers the classic board being considered the dregs. They were basically the leftovers, large-size, olds, parts models women who just did hands, legs, feet.

In the mid-90s, as the first boomers reached 50, Sicular took over the classics, weeding out deadwood and pushing for better work. In those days we were treated as third-class citizens, she said. Id fight with clients more respect, more money, better clothes. Eventually it started to get easier.

A turning point was the success of Cindy Joseph, who signed her first modelling contract at 49, with Ford in 1999. For 25 years before that, Joseph had been a leading make-up artist, travelling the world to work with Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Susan Sarandon, Willem Dafoe. Even then, she was known for her natural beauty, her long-flowing gray hair, and for never, she said, ever having even one tiny Botox tweak. She was spotted on the street in Greenwich Village by a casting agent for the fashion photographer Steven Meisel. He featured her in a campaign for Dolce & Gabbana, the Italian clothing designer, and from there her career soared: Liz Claiborne, DKNY, Olay, L.L. Bean, Target.

Several times, her image appeared on Times Square billboards four stories high. Howard Schatz photographed her nude, for a pharmaceuticals brochure, a Time magazine cover and a book. In the mid-2000s, she was profiled in magazines and on TV, the harbinger of something new, a middle-age model making it big.

Joseph, who has a 40-year-old son and a 36-year-old daughter, said that in her best year she made 0,000. Now, at 59, in some ways she is a victim of her success. I used to do a go-see, and there were three of us, she said. Now it can be 10, and sometimes a roomful. With more women my age in the business, Im working less.

Its also age. Ten years later I look older, she said. I get calls, I can tell, theyre looking to see if I still have that youthful quality. Now Im a little more matronly, a few more wrinkles, more silver hair. Shes found shes too old to portray a mom, but too young to be Grandma in a pharmaceuticals ad. Still, shes busy and earns a six-figure income.

Recently, shes been doing Macys and J.C. Penney advertising and catalogue work and has started her own cosmetics line, Boom. Instead of anti-aging, I say its pro-aging. The idea is women can look beautiful without looking younger.

Source :New York Times News Service