Photo:U.S. TUJ students who received the Freeman Foundation grant (back row) and TUJ graduates who mentor them.
Photo:U.S. TUJ students who received the Freeman Foundation grant (back row) and TUJ graduates who mentor them.
U.S. TUJ students who received the Freeman Foundation grant (back row) and TUJ graduates who mentor them.

Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) has started a new internship program for its U.S. students with financial support from the Freeman Foundation. U.S. students who currently enroll at TUJ or who study at TUJ for up to one year in the study abroad program are eligible to receive a grant from the foundation when they intern in Japan.

The first five interns under this program (including two short-term study abroad students) have started working at the organizations below. The internships will last for approximately 10 weeks, the duration of the summer semester (May 27 to July 31).

Organizations that have accepted the Freeman Foundation supported interns

  • Tokyo English Life Line
  • Japan Inc.
  • AIG
  • British Chamber of Commerce
  • Pecha-Kucha

The Freeman Foundation invited universities to submit proposals to expand U.S. student internships in East and Southeast Asia. Temple University decided to take advantage of this fund to promote internships in Japan with students at its long-standing Japan Campus. Following the five interns in the summer, Temple plans to provide 10 interns in fall semester and 14 interns in spring.

TUJ believes that this internship program to provide U.S. students with work experience in Japan, promoted by a U.S. foundation and a U.S. university, can be seen as a significant contribution to the globalization of Japanese industries. However, the organizations that accepted interns this semester are all foreign-affiliated, largely because not all the eligible students were fluent in Japanese. As Japanese corporations seek to hire more non-Japanese employees, TUJ hopes they will also offer more internship positions that do not require advanced Japanese language skills.

About TUJ Internship Program

Besides this new program, TUJ provides 30 to 40 Japanese and non-Japanese student interns every semester to various companies, governments, educational institutions, NPOs and NGOs in Japan. Internship duration is normally one semester long, total 140 hours (10-20 hours/week). Students can earn 3 credits upon successful completion of an internship.