An Analysis of Strategic Planning for Staff Hiring and Training at Japanese Universities Selected for the ?Top Global Project? by the Central Government of Japan

In 2014, the Central Government of Japan selected 34 universities for the ?Top Global Project? which is designed to promote the international competitiveness of Japanese universities. This poster session examines how those selected universities plan to hire and train staff members whose duties include providing satisfactory administrative services for international researchers and students. For this purpose, the session focuses on two issues addressed in their plans. One issue is on how the universities plan to help their staff members improve their communicative skills in English. The author has found that the universities have adopted five different types of strategies to improve English skills of their staff members. The details of these strategies will be explained in the session. One possible problem in the use of these strategies is, however, that the universities utilize commercial standardized English tests including the TOEIC, TOEFL, and IELTS tests to measure English competence of their employees without examining the nature of the tests. The other issue is on how the universities plan to recruit and train staff members to form globally competitive universities in the world. The universities plan to hire new employees from three categories: (1) non-native Japanese speakers, (2) native Japanese speakers graduating from an overseas university, and (3) native Japanese speakers having experience of working abroad. The author has found that as far as the percentage is concerned, the Japanese in category (3) account for the largest portion among the three and non-native Japanese speakers the least. The author will explain some of the obstacles that may hinder more flexible human resource planning.