AOTS and Its Main Activities

Outline of AOTS

The Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) is a human resource development organization promoting technical cooperation through training inside and outside of Japan.
   AOTS was established in 1959 with the support of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (which is the present Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: METI) as the first technical cooperation organization on a private basis in Japan.
   The total number of participants having received training in Japan to date has reached more than 162,000, representing 170 countries from around the world, while the total number of participants in AOTS training activities in overseas countries exceeded the 189,000-mark in fiscal 2010.
   These participants are actively engaged in the industrial development of their respective nations. The returned trainees have voluntarily formed Alumni Societies in many countries. These Alumni Societies have organized the World Network of Friendship, through which trainee exchange programs are being undertaken.

Our four Kenshu Centers, located in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kansai (in Osaka), and Chubu (in Aichi), can accommodate up to 1,000 trainees in total so as to be able to deal with the further expansion of AOTS activities.
 

Mission of AOTS

To realize a world of “Co-Existence and Growing Together” through human resource development

AOTS provides training of industrial human resources of developing countries to structure a rich and peaceful world so that all people on the globe may continuously benefit from the development of the economy.

AOTS Training Activities

AOTS Training Activities comprise the following three core types.

1.Training Activities for Industrial Human Resource Development

AOTS implements Public-Private Partnership training activities by combining governmental funding (ODA) and private sector funding with the purpose of cultivating industrial human resources for sustainable economic growth in developing countries. AOTS has been implementing these training activities for over 50 years since its establishment, and aimed at transferring Japanese industrial technologies to developing countries. The program under this scheme provide the trainings in fields of manufacturing and those related to the fields of infrastructure and system exportation based on the Japanese government's New Growth Strategy approved by the Cabinet Meeting in June 2010.

Each year, AOTS invites around 6,000 engineers and managers in developing countries to Japan to participate in training, which is known as the “Regular Training Program in Japan”. This Program is divided into the categories of “Technical Training” and “Management Training”.

Management Training
Management Training is implemented at AOTS Training Centers for trainees to learn various management skills needed in corporate and plant management through lectures, exercises and factory visits. The training program normally lasts 2 weeks. Management Training is implemented with a focused theme or specific trainee based on the training needs of developing countries.

AOTS also implements training programs by dispatching Japanese lecturers to countries outside of Japan. This is known as the Overseas Training Program. It is an effective way to train multiple participants at the same time on the basic skills required for their business or to share other skills that may be widely adopted in developing countries.

2. Entrusted Training Activities

AOTS implements various Training Activities entrusted by the Japanese government or public-sector organizations. For example, training activities with the purpose of improving the business environment related to trade and investment, training activities on intellectual property rights with the purpose of developing human infrastructures related to intellectual property rights, trainings on the Japanese language and cultural adaptation for nurse and caregiver candidates upon their acceptance to Japan, based on the bilateral Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) and so on.

3. New Global Cooperation (NGC) Activities

Independent of public funding, NGC means self-initiative and wide-ranged programs by AOTS based on its accumulated experiences and knowledge. NGC seminars are to share the leading-edge technologies and systems that Japan can offer to the world in areas such as environment management, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and more, as well as opportunities for business networking. It can also facilitate the globalization of Japan through various training plans for Japanese people.

New Global Cooperation (NGC) Seminars

AOTS Alumni Societies

As of April 2011, there were 70 AOTS Alumni Societies in 43 countries. Those Alumni Societies have established “World Network of Friendship (WNF)”, a network promoting world-wide cooperation amongst the alumni societies in the field of HRD based on self-help and the mutual cooperation.