08 May 2024

The third political dialogue between the European Commission and Japan on education, culture and sport, which took place in early April 2024 and was chaired by EU Commissioner Ivanona and the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Masahito Moriyama, underlined the importance of international mobility programmes for strengthening cooperation between the EU and Japan. In particular, there was agreement on the benefits of promoting student and university staff mobility between the EU and Japan.

Over the past three years, around 1,750 students and university staff have taken part in an international Erasmus exchange programme between Europe and Japan. The partners believe that the possibilities are far from exhausted. The partners have agreed that a national focal point for Erasmus+ will soon be established within the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Research and Technology (MEXT) in order to strengthen international cooperation in the implementation of mobility programmes in Japan and to promote academic mobility with Erasmus+ between the two Japan and Europe.

Initiatives to increase awareness, visibility and accessibility of Erasmus+

Japan will be among more than 70 countries worldwide that are not associated with Erasmus+ and have established such contact points in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the Americas since 2022. This global network of Erasmus+ contact points is in line with other initiatives and actions of the Commission and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) aimed at making the opportunities offered by the international dimension of Erasmus+ better known, more visible and more accessible.

This will systematically expand the existing information provided by the EU Delegation in Tokyo on scholarship programmes in Europe and university cooperation between Japanese and European universities.

The existing information mechanisms on cooperation opportunities in higher education also include the European Commission’s Erasmus Mundus Support Initiative (EMSI), which will be implemented between 2023 and 2027. It aims to increase the transparency and accessibility of the Erasmus Mundus (EM) programme and to strengthen the exchange between EM consortia. The DAAD Brussels Office is implementing the project as one of four implementation partners and was involved in organising the first regional seminar in Tokyo in February 2024, ‘Bridging Asia/Pacific and Europe through Higher Education Cooperation Projects’. The DAAD Regional Office Tokyo played a key role in establishing contacts with local institutions, such as Keio University, where the event took place.

Background of the third political dialogue between the EU and Japan

Since the political dialogue between the EU and Japan on education, culture and sport was launched in 2018, two meetings have taken place. The first political dialogue was held in Budapest in July 2018 and the second took place online in May 2021 due to the pandemic. Both meetings provided an opportunity to exchange views and experiences on various topics such as strengthening student exchange between European and Japanese universities through highly integrated Master’s programmes and assessing the impact of the pandemic on education, culture and sports policies on both sides.