Mori Takero, Consul General of the Japanese consulate in Đà Nẵng, joins a working session with Đà Nẵng City's people's committee on workforce training programmes for future cooperation and development. VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG – Japan plans to introduce an examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU) in early 2025 in Đà Nẵng and Thừa Thiên Huế for Vietnamese students looking for opportunities at public universities there.

Mori Takero, Consul General of the Japanese consulate in Đà Nẵng, shared the information at a meeting with the city’s leadership, noting that it’s a chance for the central region to improve its workforce training for the future.

He said EJU is an examination for international students wishing to enroll and study at Japanese universities, but it is rarely taken by students in central Việt Nam.

Mori said that at least 60 elite students from the central region have previously been educated in Japan, but the number of schoolchildren in the region earning scholarships to study at Japanese universities has decreased in the past decade.

“Good students in central Việt Nam have fewer chances to gain full scholarship awards from public universities in Japan than those in HCM City and Hà Nội. They (elite students) would benefit from all-around support from the universities, including tuition, accommodations and preferential policies during their studies in Japan,” Mori said.

“Some universities in Japan even enrol Vietnamese students with zero basic knowledge of the Japanese language, but enrolled Vietnamese students have to pass the EJU to study at Japanese universities,” he explained.

He said almost all Vietnamese full scholarship winners have been successful both in Việt Nam and Japan after graduation, and they contribute to socio-economic development with businesses in both countries.

“This is the reason the Japanese General Consulate in Đà Nẵng fosters information exchanges between universities in Japan and local school students about the full scholarship programmes, for future decision making,” he said.

Vice chairman of the city’s people’s committee Nguyễn Thị Anh Thi said the number of school students taking courses in Japan has nearly doubled, from 137 in 2023 to 223 in six months of 2024.

More than 300 students from the private, Đà Nẵng-based Đông Á University have been working for Japanese companies in several different fields in Japan since 2017.

She said the city has 30 Japanese language training centres and 25 companies operating in enrollment for education in Japan.

“Japan is seen as one of the best options in terms of education for students in central Việt Nam, and a series of universities in Đà Nẵng, including Duy Tân, Đà Nẵng University and Đông Á University Đà Nẵng have already signed cooperation deals with Japanese partners in education,” Thi said.

She urged the Japanese side to support the city in workforce training programmes in public management, semiconductors and AI, finance, high-tech industries and tourism.

Nine cities in Japan – Osaka, Fukuoka, Yokohama, Maebashi, Chiba, Shizuoka, Tokyo, Tottori and Nagasaki – as well as 120 Japanese businesses and 13 universities, have signed cooperation deals for student workforce training and employment in central Việt Nam.

The first Japanese language studies and culture research faculty was established at Đông Á University.

The city is home to 228 investment projects from Japan worth US$1.04 billion, which have created 40,000 jobs in central Việt Nam.

Four prefectures from Japan – Kisarazu, Kawasaki, Sakai and Yokohama – have also signed friendship and cooperation agreements with Đà Nẵng, and the annual Việt Nam-Japan Cultural Exchange Day has been organised in Đà Nẵng since 2014.

Miss International Huỳnh Thị Thanh Thuỷ at a Japanese green tea making and Ikebana flower arranging event at a cultural exchange in Đà Nẵng. Thuỷ won the crown in a contest in Tokyo, Japan in November. VNS Photo Công Thành

Mori Takero and his wife also hosted an Ikebana flower arranging event, a long-standing tradition of Japan, and an event highlighting the art of Japanese green tea making with Miss International 2024, Huỳnh Thị Thanh Thuỷ, at his residential building in Đà Nẵng.

The cultural exchange event aims to bolster the relationship between Japan and Việt Nam as well as the central city of Đà Nẵng.

Thuỷ, who was born and grew up in Đà Nẵng, was the first Vietnamese to win the Miss International Crown 2024 in Tokyo, Japan, in November. VNS