Tokyo university partners local government to help foreign students find jobs

Sophia University, a private research university in Tokyo, Japan, has partnered with Hello Work Shinjuku, a public employment office to support foreign students seeking jobs in the country.

Under the agreement, Hello Work Shinjuku will dispatch lecturers to international students at the university, who will then be provided with further information on internships and seminars.

This is Japan’s first agreement signed on employment support for international students, and comes as an effort to raise employment numbers among foreign graduates in the country.

So far, only 35% of international students land jobs in Japan, although about 65% of international students express their desire to work in the country after graduation, said the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

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Sophia University will also inform the public office about the needs of their job-seeking students. About 2,000 students from around 90 countries and regions are currently enrolled at the university.

Japan’s unique recruitment process sees a large number of companies hiring potential graduates in bulk around the same time each year. Students start seeking jobs through job fairs and attend interviews before they graduate.