Japan invites Indian government officials to a master's program

New Delhi: Japan has invited Indian civilservants under the Japanese Government’s grant aid program, the “Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship”, commonly known as JDS, for a master's program. The batch of around 10 civil servants, from India’s key administrative services such as the IAS, IRS, IRSE, and ITS, was given a send-off at the Japanese embassy earlier today. From August, they will begin their two-year master’s programs at leading Japanese universities, including the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, Hitotsubashi University, and Kobe University.

The Japanese ambassador to India, Ono Keiichi, speaking to WION, said, "They will become a bridge between Japan and India. This is good for the Indian govt, Japanese government".

The JDS program, launched in 1999 by Japan government, aims to accept young government officials and others who are expected to play leading roles in policy planning and administrative processes in their home countries. While funded by the Japanesegovt, it is executed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Through graduate/master's studies in Japan, they are expected to acquire specialized knowledge and contribute to the development of their own countries upon return. Emphasising close ties between India, & Japan, Ambassador Keiichisaid,"India needs Japan. Japan needs India. We, in the past many years, many, many years, we have helped each other...". He pointed out that, as Japan is an aging society, "we need more Indian people to come to Japan to support industries so we could help each other".

In 2021, India & Japan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on Specified Skilled Workers (SSW), a mobility pact to facilitate the movement of skilled Indian workers to Japan. The Indian workers, through this institutional framework, can go to Japan, but need to have skills, including Japanese language skills. The pact is to get Indian workers in 14 sectors, including aviation, agriculture, fisheries, etc. Approximately 51,000 Indian nationals live in Japan, making them the third-largest South Asian group after Nepalis and Burmese.