Prof. Rong Zhang
Nishinippon Institute of Technology, Japan
Rong Zhang is a professor at Faculty of Design of Nishinippon Institute of Technology, Japan. She holds a master degree in Foreign Language Education from Fukuoka University of Education and a Ph. D in Educational Engineering from Waseda University, Japan. Her research focus includes English Language Education (ELT), Globalization, Intercultural Communication and Japan Study.
Globalization in Japan -- Challenges and Prospects
Abstract: Japan’s demographic changes over the past decades have prompted a sea change in immigration policy. Once such effect has been the influx of foreign labor to address labor shortages in various sectors of the economy. The purpose of the speech is to examine the recent situation of foreign workers in Japan who have been impacted by these immigration policies, particularly considering the coronavirus pandemic. The speech examines the working and living conditions of foreign labors, provides insight into the challenges and trends Japan has to face at the current stage, and concludes that to date, the new immigration system has failed to live up to expectations. If Japan wants to accept more foreign workers to boost its economy and realize faster progress in globalization, more efforts need to be made at both the national and local levels.
Professor Philipp Gonon
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Philipp Gonon studied Law and Journalism from 1974
until 1976 at the University of Fribourg,
Switzerland. Afterwards he continued studying
Pedagogy at the University of Zurich, Switzerland,
and at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. From
1986 until 1992 he became research assistant and
lecturer at the Institute of Pedagogy of the
University of Bern, Switzerland where he finished
his postdoctoral lecture qualification in 1997. From
1999 until 2004, Gonon was appointed to Full
University Professor at the Chair of Vocational and
Operational Further Education at the University of
Trier in Germany. Since 2004, Gonon has held the
Chair of Vocational Education and Training and
Vocational Teacher Training at the University of
Zurich, Switzerland. Gonon has done research about
Georg Kerschensteiner, the relation of schooling and
vocation and about the European educational reforms.
He specialised in the areas of historical and
international comparative educational research. In
addition, Gonon does research in quality assurance
and evaluation, modularization in Vocational
Education and he publishes about Philosophy and
Theory of Vocational Education.
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