Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Saitama Prefecture Governor Kiyoshi Ueda show the signed agreement for human resource development. (CDN Photo/Christian Maningo)
CEBU and the local government of Saitama Prefecture in Japan signed an agreement to renew their partnership for a human resource project.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Saitama Prefecture Governor Kiyoshi Ueda signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Saitama-Cebu Comprehensive Human Resource Monozukuri Project at the Capitol yesterday.
The project started three years ago and is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) under their Technical Cooperation for Grassroots Projects scheme.
Asked why they chose Cebu for their project, Ueda said it’s a “win-win situation” for both Cebu and Saitama since both stand to benefit from it.
Ueda said Cebu has a very good track record for human resource development.
“Jica help us nurture human resources. In Cebu, those who want to become engineers, wants to study further and then we accept those people from Cebu to Japanese companies and then students can study there,” Ueda said in Japanese.
The project also provides opportunities for students, teachers and representatives from various enterprises to learn the Monozukuri philosophy.
Monozukuri is a Japanese manufacturing philosophy that seeks to boost customer satisfaction and create excellent products.
There will be 10 engineering students and six faculty members of University of San Jose-Recoletos who will go to Saitama this Monday for a two-week training.
Dr. Virgilio Abellana, dean of College of Engineering, said the students will be exposed to manufacturing companies in the Saitama area while the faculty members will also teach Japanese students in Toyo University and vice versa.
USJ-R also signed an agreement with Shibaura Institute of Technology for academic exchange programs and other collaborative programs.
“Kani sa Shibaura, it’s the first agreement. Unlike sa Toyo University nga 2013 pa ta (We already started in 2013). We already have initial discussion with Shibaura. It will be more on research collaboration. Toyo and
Shibaura are considered a global university by the Japanese government,” Abellana said.
Toyo University chose four universities in Cebu for their Top Global Scholarship.
These are USJ-R, University of the Philippines Cebu, University of San Carlos and Cebu Institute of Technology University.