ERC Final Report
- Design: Shuya Kumagai, Designer, Miyazaki Minami Printing Co.,Ltd.
- Translation: Shiori Okazaki
About ERC
1．ERC’s Objective
ERC compiles and analyzes data to measure progress toward the ETF goal of doubling student mobility between Japan and the US by 2020, a target that was set by the Education Task Force (ETF) in 2013, and considers various measures while confirming progress made by 2020.
2．ERC Members
Members in Japan
- Dr. Masako Egawa (Chair, CULCON panelist, Professor, Graduate School of Commerce and Management, Hitotsubashi University, former JLEC co-chair)
- Tomoko Hasegawa (Director, SDG Bureau, Keidanren [Japan Business Federation])
- Takuto Miyamoto (Director, Office for International Cooperation, International Affairs Division, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
- Kazuhiro Kawase Director, Cultural Affairs and Overseas Public Relations Division Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
- Takafumi Ota (Director, Information Service Division, Student Exchange Department, Japan Student Services Organization)
- Suzuko Nishihara (Executive Director, Japanese-Language Institute, former JLEC member)[from 2018]
Members in the US
- Dr. Len Schoppa (Chair, CULCON panelist, Professor at the University of Virginia, former JLEC co-chair)
- Dr. Susan Pharr (Professor of Japan Politics, Harvard University, former ETF member)
- Peggy Blumenthal (Senior Counselor to the President, Institute of International Education [IIE], former ETF outside expert)
- Margot Carrington (Minister Counselor for Public Affairs, US Embassy Tokyo)[Until 2017]
- Carolyn Glassman (Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs in charge of cultural exchange) [from 2018]
- David Sneider (CULCON panelist, partner at Tokyo office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP)
- Susan Schmitt (Executive Director, American Association of Teachers of Japanese [AATJ], former JLEC member)[from 2018]
3．Background of Establishment
(1) The Education Task Force (ETF) was established on the recommendation made at the XXV CULCON held in April 2012. With former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuoda and former US Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta as senior advisors, ETF was tasked with examining the causes behind the decrease in the number of US and Japanese students studying in each other’s country and making recommendations of mechanisms to shore up these exchanges. In June 2013, the ETF set the ambitious goal of doubling the number of US and Japanese students studying in each other’s country by 2020 and presented the ETF report compiling the ETF’s recommendations for achieving this target to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Under Secretary of State Tara Sonenshine. CULCON distributed this report broadly to many stakeholders and encouraged the implementation of its recommendations. In the annex to the joint statement made by Prime Minister Abe and President Obama at their summit meeting in April 2014, the governments stated that they share CULCON’s goal of doubling two-way student exchange (US-Japan Joint Statement by Prime Minister Abe and President Obama
).
(2) As a follow-up to the November 2014 ETF, the subsequent initiatives taken by Japan and the US to implement the aforementioned recommendations were compiled in an annual report and submitted to CULCON XXVI. Based on the recommendations made at this conference, the Education Exchange Review Committee (ERC) was established to confirm progress and conduct reviews.
4．Activities from ETF to ERC
- May 2012
- Education Task Force (ETF) established
- January 2013
- CULCON ETF meeting held in Honolulu
- May 2013
- ETF Round Table and Education Task Force Initiative CULCON and Waseda University’s Joint Symposium “US-Japan Relationship and Expanding Educational Exchanges: Toward Doubling US and Japanese Exchange Students” held at Masaru Ibuka Auditorium, International Conference Hall, Waseda University
- June 2013
- ETF Report presented to Prime Minister Abe and Under Secretary of State Tara Sonenshine【PDF:2.6MB】
- January 2014
- US-Japan joint ETF follow-up in Honolulu
- April 2014
- ETF target shared in the joint statement from the summit meeting between Prime Minister Abe and President Obama (Annex to Joint Statement)
CULCON co-chairs release statement welcoming this initiative (Japanese) (English)
- May 2014
- Report presented to CULCON television conference
- November 2014
- ETF Report 2013-2014 submitted at CULCON XXVI
Agreement to establish Education Review Committee (ERC)
- April 2015
- ERC established; the 1st meeting of Japanese members of ERC in Tokyo
- July 2015
- The 2nd meeting of Japanese members of ERC in Tokyo
- September 2015
- Discussion of ERC’s future approach at CULCON Executive Session
- December 2015
- The 3rd meeting of Japanese members of ERC in Tokyo
- January 2016
- First joint US-Japan ERC meeting in Honolulu
- June 2016
- ERC issues ERC Report at CULCON XXVII in Tokyo
- December 2016
- The 1st ERC Liaison Meeting (liaison meeting between CULCON panelists and ERC members)
Discussion on future approach toward 2020 from a comprehensive perspective held at Ministry of Education in Tokyo; the chairs was Teiichi Sato, CULCON advisor, and the meeting was also attended by Dr. Masako Egawa (ERC chair); Isao Kiso, ERC advisor; Makita Shimokawa, CULCON government member (Ministry of Foreign Affairs); and Koichi Morimoto, CULCON government member (Ministry of Education)
- February 2017
- At The 4th meeting of Japanese members of ERC in Tokyo, a report was given on TeamUp, a US initiative to promote educational partnerships between Japan and the US
- May 2017
- The 5th meeting of Japanese members of ERC in Tokyo
- June 2017
- The 2nd joint US-Japan ERC meeting at the American Center in Tokyo
- January 2018
- The 6th meeting of Japanese members of ERC in Tokyo
- June 2018
- ERC Interim Report submitted at CULCON XXVIII in Washington D.C.
Decision made that ERC would follow up on Japanese Language Education Committee’s recommendations
- January 2019
- The 7th meeting of Japanese members of ERC in Tokyo
- September 2020
- ERC Japan Chair Masako Egawa presented the ERC’s activity results at AAS-in-Asia Special Panel Session.
- December 2020
- ERC Final Report【PDF:3.35MB】 completed.
- April 2021
-
April 7
Japan CULCON Chair, KATO Ryozo and ERC Co-Chair, EGAWA Masako visited former Prime Minister ABE Shinzo to hand over the final ERC report with a brief presentation of the report.
April 9
Japan CULCON Chair, KATO Ryozo, ERC Co-Chair, EGAWA Masako and Japan CULCON Vice Chair, KUBO Fumiaki visited former Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide to hand over the final ERC report with a brief presentation of the report.
5. Results
- (1) The US and Japan’s leaders both pledged support for ERC at their summit meeting in 2015. Their joint statement on their vision for their two countries declared, “Broad people-to-people exchange between Japan and the United States has been a key pillar of our Alliance since its inception.” A fact sheet was also released. The ERC Report was submitted at CULCON XXVII in June 2016.
- (2) ERC Interim Report was submitted at CULCON XXVIII in June 2018.
- (3) ERC Final Report【PDF:3.35MB】 completed in December 2020.
- (4)April 2021
April 7
Japan CULCON Chair, KATO Ryozo and ERC Co-Chair, EGAWA Masako visited former Prime Minister ABE Shinzo to hand over the final ERC report with a brief presentation of the report. Prime Minister ABE expressed great interest and appreciated ERC’s activities.
April 9
Japan CULCON Chair, KATO Ryozo, ERC Co-Chair, EGAWA Masako and Japan CULCON Vice Chair, KUBO Fumiaki visited Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide to hand over the final ERC report with a brief presentation of the report. This visit was made before the U.S.-Japan Summit Meeting will be held in mid-April, 2021.
