As international students in Japan, questions such as ‘What are the options I have once I graduate?’ lurk in the mind of almost every scholar. As the country goes through the process of internationalization, the importance of answering these questions are increasing day by day. MEXT Scholars Association understands the gravity of this situation and is taking initiatives to deliver at least some kind of direction to MEXT Scholars in particular and the international community at large.
With this motivation, on Sunday, July 8, the Kansai division of MEXT Scholars Association organized an exchange of information between current scholars and alumni which we call “From Scholars To Scholars (FSTS)”. The venue was the prestigious Kyoto University in Japan. Three speakers coming from different backgrounds shared their experiences and tips with the eagerly listening audience. Around 25 people, from different universities in the Kansai area joined the interactive program.
The first speaker was Oula Aabkari, a scholar from Morocco and currently a 2nd year Master student at the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. She recently cracked a job at a construction consulting company and shared her job-hunting experience targeting a general audience.
The second speaker was Fernando Palacio, a scholar from Argentina, who came to Japan with the MEXT scholarship in 2004 and finished his Masters and PhD at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. At present, he is a “Program special senior lecturer” in Kyoto University at the International Strategy Office and shared his experiences both as a student and a professional.
The third speaker was Austin Zeng, a Singaporean scholar, who graduated from the University of Tokyo in 2017. He is currently working for multiple startups in the Tokyo tech scene and is a member of a research group at RIETI researching about the laboural scene for foreigners in Japan. He is also the current President of the MEXT Scholars Association. He shared his career experience and his knowledge on the difficulties and opportunities as a foreigner looking for a career in Japan.
After the three speakers finished their presentations there was a Q&A session where the audience freely interacted with the speakers and cleared many of their doubts.
The event had a special attendee. Yukari Mitsuhashi, the Vice-Director of the International Strategy Office Kyoto University decided to surprise us with her humble presence and addressed the students with a short speech.
MEXT Scholars Association would like to thank everyone who joined us and made this event a success. We will try our best to bring more and more career related events to the Kansai area in the future!
Click here to see a video of a part of the event
Click here to download the presentations
Written by Anirban Chakraborty. Pictures taken by Fabian Hia