JICA Development Studies Program (JICA-DSP)

Sharing Japan’s modernization experience and lessons learned from its development cooperation

JICA has built partnerships with 94 Japanese universities by the end of fiscal 2021 to accept JICA scholars* in their master’s and doctoral courses. The aim is to allow these scholars, who have studied in Japan, to play a significant role in their homelands as future leaders who can foster a long-lasting bilateral relationship between each country and Japan.

The JICA Development Studies Program (JICA-DSP) offers JICA scholars the opportunity to learn about Japan’s modernization and development experiences, which differ from those of Europe and the United States, and its wisdom as a country that has provided cooperation toward the progress of developing countries after World War II. JICA-DSP consists of two kinds of programs: (1) the Common and Local Programs offered by JICA, titled Understanding the Japanese Development Experience and Understanding Japanese Local History and Development; and (2) Development Studies Programs Offered by Various Universities, offered by partner universities. Through these two kinds of programs, JICA scholars learn about Japanese expertise and experience and put them to good use for the development of their countries back home.

In fiscal 2021, proactive efforts resulted in 237 and 390 JICA scholars participating in the Common and Local Programs, respectively. In this way, JICA-DSP shares both Japan’s modernization experience and lessons learned from the process of its development cooperation with future leaders from partner countries who will contribute to the progress of their countries.

JICA Program for Japanese Studies (JICA Chair)

Expanding JICA-DSP abroad

In order to offer partner countries opportunities to learn about Japan’s modernization and development cooperation experiences, JICA offers the JICA Program for Japanese Studies (JICA Chair). The JICA Chair supports leading universities in these countries to establish courses or programs of Japanese studies that explore such experiences through delving into the Japanese history and culture that underlie these experiences.

JICA Chair’s activities include: (1) Short Intensive Lectures, which involve, among other things, dispatching lecturers from Japan and offering related video teaching materials; and (2) the JICA Chair of Japanese studies, which also entails conducting joint research activities and providing research and education opportunities in Japan for young researchers. Up to fiscal 2021, JICA has offered these two types of programs in 49 countries in accordance with partner countries’ needs.

To promote the JICA Chair in many partner countries, JICA produced the video teaching material called “Japanese Modernization Lecture Series (Chapters 8 to 15)” in fiscal 2021 in cooperation with the Open University of Japan. This is a sequel to “Seven Chapters on Japanese Modernization,” coproduced in fiscal 2019. During fiscal 2021, JICA also developed video teaching materials on Japan’s modernization and development cooperation experiences in line with the JICA Global Agenda—a set of issue-specific cooperation strategies.

In March 2022, JICA dispatched a lecturer from a Japanese university to a partner country for the first time under the JICA Chair. He gave a special lecture at Makerere University in Uganda, inviting lively discussions following the lecture.

Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS)

Drawing on the research capacity of universities and research institutions

SATREPS is an endeavor to draw on the latest science and technology to come up with solutions to increasingly serious and complex challenges, such as global epidemic outbreaks, natural disasters, and natural resource issues. JICA works with the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development and the Japan Science and Technology Agency to conduct international joint research that aims to address these challenges with the involvement of universities and research institutions in Japan and developing countries.

The research themes are wide-ranging, from environmental pollution, climate change, and carbon neutrality to natural disasters and infectious diseases. Japan’s research prowess is put to good use for many studies under SATREPS, including: a study to protect the high-density metropolis from earthquake disaster in Bangladesh; a study to make safe and effective land use of the exclusion zone after the nuclear disaster in Ukraine [ photo above]; and a study to understand where marine plastic waste comes from and what impact it has on the marine environment in Thailand.

In fiscal 2021, JICA adopted 12 projects for 12 partner countries under SATREPS and proceeded with discussions with the universities and research institutions in these countries toward project implementation. Apart from these new projects, JICA conducted case studies and offered seminars for researchers with the aim of utilizing research outcomes for the progress of society.

* “JICA scholars” here refers to participants from developing countries who are enrolled in degree programs at Japanese universities under certain frameworks, including technical cooperation; the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS), a Grant; and the Scholarship for Japanese Emigrants and Their Descendants in Latin America and the Caribbean. Header photo
Uganda: Makerere University, a national university in Uganda, hosted the JICA Chair, in cooperation with the Japanese Embassy in Uganda, as part of the ceremonial event for the centennial of its foundation. It is expected that students who studied under the JICA Chair—which is being rolled out in many countries around the world—will help to maintain and strengthen relationships between those countries and Japan over the medium and long term.