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About ITP

International Training Program

Construction of an International Collaboration System for the Training of Young Researchers Specializing in the Study of Asian and African Areas (ITP-AA)

This program adopted by JSPS in 2007 for a five-year period aims at nurturing young researchers at TUFS in their research activity through strengthening international collaboration. For this purpose, we established the Consortium for Asian and African Studies (CAAS) among the leading higher educational institutions in Asian and African studies, as the central point and build upon it activities that will mentor and mold young researchers of the university into professional scholars at an international level.

TUFS took the lead and in March 2007 established CAAS consisting of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London, UK; the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), France; Leiden University, the Netherlands; Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the National University of Singapore (FASS-NUS); and TUFS.

As a first step we have started deputing young researchers, four to five per year, for fieldwork in Asian and African countries primarily for understanding field realities, conducting field-study, collecting research data and establishing cooperative relationships with the local researchers. We also depute young researchers with some experience to institutions including those belonging to CAAS for enhancing their data-analysis capabilities and their theoretical foundation.

In addition to field training and collection of data, the researchers need to hone their abilities of actual presentation and publication of their research output. For this purpose, we conduct workshops and symposia in collaboration with the members of CAAS. Such avenues provide opportunities to our young researchers in presenting their research output through different media at different international avenues.

The Office for International Academic Strategy (OFIAS-TUFS) set up the ITP-AA Committee for the operation of this program and also the ITP-AA Working Committee for the coordination of the young researchers' project.