Japanese Public, Private Sectors Seeking Workers from India

New Delhi, Nov. 19 (Jiji Press)--Japan's public and private sectors are making efforts to secure human resources from India, targeting not only students and highly skilled information technology engineers but also workers for the manufacturing and other industries suffering labor shortages.

"Many Japanese universities are keen to attract the best and smartest students and researchers," Kiyohiro Hokin, president of Hokkaido University in the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, said at a forum of Japanese and Indian universities held in New Delhi in mid-October.

Leaders of over 70 universities and research institutions from the two countries attended the forum, with some of them also holding individual talks on expanding cooperation. The event, the third of its kind, was held in India for the first time.

The Indian Institutes of Technology, a national body, is "not the only excellent university" in India, an official from the Japan Science and Technology Agency, which hosted the forum, said, noting, "There are (outstanding institutions) in the private sector and regional areas as well." The official added, "There was a need to come (to India) to expand our scope."

Yukio Miyashita, professor at the Nagaoka University of Technology who attended the event, said that many local businesses in Niigata Prefecture in central Japan seek Indian graduates. The university is located in Nagaoka, the second-most populous city in the prefecture.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]