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Bureau
of Educational and Cultural Affairs
Dr. Adam Herbert, President, Indiana University
Tokyo, Japan It is a great honor for my presidential colleagues and me to be members of this delegation and to meet with members of the ACCJ. Our message today is a very simple one: We deeply value our many relationships with the people of Japan and are fully committed to strengthening them. We are doing so in a number of ways: through international business relationships; through international educational opportunities; through research collaborations enabled by technological innovation; and through study abroad programs. Using my state as an example of our expanding relationships, Japanese business employs nearly 43,000 citizens in Indiana. With the announcement of a new Honda plant and the expansion of an existing Toyota plant, another 3,000 jobs are being added. These enterprises bring total Japanese investment in Indiana to nearly $9 billion. Japan is very much a part of the life of Indiana and the United States as a whole. Strong and growing business relationships such as these provide clear evidence of the obligations and challenges our universities face in educating students to live and work in a 21st century global economy. As you know, historically the prosperity of nations was determined by climate, geographical location and natural resources. Today, knowledge is the new economic currency. A nation's destiny now is shaped: By the education and entrepreneurial spirit of its citizens, their sensitivity to other cultures, and their ability to communicate in a wide variety of languages. Japan and the United States will be much more competitive and will respond more effectively to the challenges of this new era only if we are able to build even more and much stronger bridges and collaborations between our two countries. Educational exchanges are an excellent way to strengthen relations between our two countries. The United States is a premiere destination for Japanese students. And we would welcome many, many more. I am proud to note that Indiana University's very first international student was Japanese. He earned an advanced degree from Indiana University in 1891 and then returned to his homeland to teach economics in Japanese universities. He also became Secretary of the Yokahama chamber of commerce. Today many American university alumni occupy key positions in Japanese corporations and American subsidiaries. They are string ambassadors for transcontinental business, government and educational partnerships. They also have been highly instrumental in helping us fashion research agreements and faculty exchange programs with excellent universities here in your country. Both of our countries will benefit from a significant increase in the growth of student exchanges that produce such significant results. Just as we would like to see more Japanese students studying in and simultaneously learning about America, so too, must American students study in and learn more about Japan. At my own institution and in many others throughout America, growing numbers of graduate and undergraduate students are studying Japanese language, culture, history, and politics. The presence of Japanese students in our classrooms also broadens the global perspective of American students who may never travel beyond the borders of our nation. We must ensure that our graduates acquire global and technological literacy, cultural sensitivity, and strong foreign language skills. One way to do so is to increase study abroad and international internship opportunities. Participation in these experiences has grown exponentially over the last 25 years. But we must do more. Their impact was made even clearer to me a few weeks ago by an Indiana University student who spent the summer of 2005 in Tokyo as a participant in the Harvard Project for International Relations. His visit was supported by a Tokyo businessman. Joseph found the experience of being an ambassador of friendship and meeting Japanese people a truly life-changing one. He expresses his deepest thanks to the benefactor who enabled him to develop "a better understanding of the world." He will always love your country! In summary, recognizing the importance of such experiences in promoting cross-cultural understanding, my fellow university and college presidents would like to see a significant increase in Japanese students studying at our institutions. We would like to see significantly more U.S. students study abroad over the next decade, with more of them coming to Japan. We would like to see expanded research collaboration between our faculties. Like you, we also are interested in producing graduates who are, above all else, "citizens of the world." Thank you very much for your warm welcome.
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