ERIC Number: EJ1017688
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1443-1475
EISSN: N/A
Connecting Indigenous Ainu, University and Local Industry in Japan: The Urespa Project
Maeda, Koji; Okano, Kaori H.
International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, v12 n1 p45-60 2013
This paper examines how collaboration amongst university, indigenous community and private sector companies can promote Ainu participation in higher education, drawing on a case study of the Urespa Project in Sapporo University, Japan. In this project, the university offers scholarships to Ainu students, requiring them to take a special course in Ainu culture and history and develop collaborations with partner private sector companies. We suggest that "the two-way learning" that the Urespa Project advocates signifies a challenge to the conventional approach to Ainu education, which has long centred on the majority wajin providing uni-directional assistance to the Ainu in order to help them achieve the national educational benchmarks. The "mutual learning" approach (sodateai in Japanese, urespa in the Ainu language) stresses a nurturing environment in which both Ainu and non-Ainu students feel included. That such initiatives came from private universities, rather than the national government, is indicative of how Ainu education is perceived as a local, rather than national, issue in Japan.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Benchmarking, Indigenous Populations, Private Sector, Cooperation, School Business Relationship, School Community Relationship, Case Studies, Higher Education, Scholarships, Asian Culture, Asians, Local Issues, Educational Attitudes, Civil Rights, Disadvantaged, History, Acculturation, Public Policy
Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society. ANZCIES Secretariat, Curtin University, Box U1987, Perth, WA Australia. Tel: +61-8-9266-7106; Fax: +61-8-9266-3222; e-mail: editor@iejcomparative.org; Web site: http://openjournals.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/IEJ
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A