Japan to invite 4,334 JET teachers

July 25, 2010

Despite speculation that the JET program may be soon be stopped, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced that there will be 4,334 JET teachers in the coming year. This is down from the 6,273 teachers when the JET program was at its peak in 2002, but it is still a large number of teachers.

The teachers will come from 36 different different countries - teachers from Latvia will be included for the first time. 3,974 of the teachers will be assistant teachers in elementary and secondary schools, and 354 will be assigned to the international exchange units of local governments.

It still seems to be quite likely that the JET program will be reviewed some time soon, but plans for this year are clearly going ahead without many changes.

Click here for the article in the Mainichi.

Most Japanese adults will not be able to study in Britain for more than six months

July 24, 2010

The British government is introducing new restrictions on overseas students studying in Britain for more than six months. All students will be required to have a high intermediate qualification in English. The only qualifications that are accepted are TOEFL, Ielts, The Pearson Test of Academic English and the Cambridge Esol exams. TOEIC will not be accepted as a qualification.

The EL Gazette reports: 'The government laid the new immigration rules before parliament just 24 hours before implementation and three days before the beginning of the summer recess. It also comes at the peak time for student applications for courses for the next academic year. The House has forty days to disagree with the judgment, in which case the government must amend it, but this is unlikely to happen before autumn. Meanwhile, thousands of students will be rejected because they do not have the right language level, or because they do not have the correct qualifications.'

Click here for the online edition of EL Gazette. Please note that the change in government regulations is breaking news and may not be on the EL Gazette site yet.

TOEIC subcontractor hid 100 million yen

July 23, 2010

The Mainichi reports: 'The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau has uncovered that International Communications School Inc. (ICS) had hid over 100 million yen in income until the end of fiscal 2008. ICS is a subcontractor for the Institute for International Business Communication (IIBC), which operates TOEIC, or Test of English for International Communication, in Japan. Tax authorities have apparently ordered ICS to pay about 30 million yen in back taxes.'

According to sources close to the case, ICS subcontracted works related to TOEIC, including conducting the exam and promoting its widespread use among schools and companies. Tax authorities have apparently exposed crooked accounting over the subcontracted work.

James McCrostie wrote an illuminating article on TOEIC in Japan for JALT in February this year which is well worth reading for background on the current problems with ICS. He made four main criticisms - 1) the profit-oriented motives for starting the test, 2) nepotistic executive appointments, 3) questionable partnerships with companies such as International Communications Inc. and International Communications School whose services have cost hundreds of millions of yen, and 4) the misuse of test-taker fees for expenses including staggering executive salaries and funding the former chair's pet projects such as a Chinese poetry association and the Beautiful Aging Association.

Click here for James McCrostie's article.Click here for the full Mainichi article.