Education

There are approximately 72 million children in the world who are unable to attend primary school, and the majority of these children come from developing countries. In addition, it is estimated that there are 759 million people, or 16% of the world's adult population, who lack basic capabilities (reading, writing and numeracy) (EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2010). The primary reason for this is poverty. Without basic skills, people are forced to work in unstable, low-paying jobs, and if they don't break this vicious cycle, it is difficult to escape from poverty.

The international community has undertaken a number of initiatives to realize Education for All (EFA), which aims to have all children attending school by 2015. However, it is predicted that several tens of millions of children will be unable to attend school by this target date.

Since opportunities to receive quality education and training are limited in developing countries, human resources are not effectively utilized, which reduces opportunities to obtain sufficient earnings. A lack of human resources has become a major bottleneck to industrial promotion and development.

In today's knowledge-based society, higher educational institutions bear strong demands to play a role in research and development, education and social contribution—a role, that is, as "intellectual hubs" of knowledge and information. In developing countries as well, there is an increasingly vital role for higher educational institutions to play in meeting society's expectations in fostering human resources, particularly highly skilled professionals and researchers to support industry, to lead nation building, raising the intellectual level of society and contributing to industrial and regional development.

As globalization progresses, it has become increasingly clear that higher education institutions in developing countries cannot survive in isolation from the outside. Accordingly, there is a strong move to develop educational and research activities by forming academic exchange networks with institutions and researchers in other countries to enable the mutual utilization of respective advantages.