The education ministry will extend support to students in doctoral courses to help them find jobs through a tie-up with companies and universities to create an internship program exclusively for doctoral students, starting this fiscal year.
Such an initiative is necessary because there are fewer opportunities for doctoral students than undergraduate students to find jobs at private firms. Even if they remain at universities as postdoctoral researchers in the hope of getting regular jobs at universities, which are limited in number, their status tends to be unstable. This has led in recent years to doctoral courses becoming less popular among Japanese students.
With the new system, which is also expected to be directly linked to the hiring of such students by private companies, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry aims to increase the number of doctoral students while also raising the level of the country's research prowess.
The ministry has established a council made up of 45 firms that mainly look for science students, such as Canon Inc., Toyota Motor Corp., and SoftBank Corp., and 45 state, public, and privately-run universities, including the University of Tokyo, and Waseda University.
The new program will start by December this year under such conditions as 1) a paid internship; 2) for a period longer than 2 months, and 3) with the hiring of participating students based on the results of their internship to be made possible.
Through a recruitment service firm that will function as the council's administration office, types of manpower sought by companies will be offered, with those students who would match them prompted to apply for the jobs.
For instance, a second-year doctoral student who specializes in materials science would take part in research on new product on a paid basis at a material maker for three months. If they are recognized for their ability and willingness to work, they could be hired as a regular employee upon the completion of their doctoral course. Most universities in Japan have master's courses lasting for two years and doctoral courses for three years.
Such details as the quota for eligible students and areas of eligibility will be worked out in the days ahead. Under the present rules of college students' job-hunting activities, internship programs in which undergraduate students or graduate students have taken part before the day when the companies' recruiting of graduating students officially starts would not be associated with the firms' students-screening activities. But such rules are not applied to doctoral students.
Due chiefly to concerns about their futures, there is a continuing trend in recent years among college students to avoid going on to doctoral courses. It is because Japanese companies hire mainly younger, undergraduate students, while the number of full-time positions is limited for those who would remain at universities as postdoctoral researchers.
The percentage of those students who go on to doctoral courses has nearly halved from 16.7% in fiscal 2000 to 9.4% in fiscal 2020.
According to the education ministry, the number of those acquiring a doctor's degree totals around 15,000 a year in Japan, while the number reaches about 184,000 in the United States, some 59,000 in China, and roughly 25,000 in Britain. Some pundits have pointed out that the low popularity of doctoral courses may lead to a decline in Japan's international competitiveness.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
