Activity report
2006 Fiscal Year 10th Annual JAOS-FGER Meeting
February 27, 2007
at Mainichi Shinbun Headquarters in Tokyo
For the 10th time, JAOS and FGER (Foreign Government Educational Representatives) met in order to present their perspectives on the current study abroad climate and actively exchange information. Starting this year, each company was asked to provide a numerical summarization of the number of students they sent to each respective country and study abroad program. In order to research the current study abroad market, JAOS was also requested by FGER to publicly announce the total number of students its member organizations sent abroad. Though it is difficult for each company to announce their student numbers due to the sensitive relationship these numbers share with company sales figures, it was felt that this kind of activity is extremely important for researching the industry’s worldwide growth. Furthermore, JAOS gave those assembled an update on the JAOS Certified Counselor Training Course, which is currently limited to members of JAOS organizations and has already attracted 50 participants. An account of the recent Fair Trade Commission Guideline Seminar was also presented. In relation to the seminar, pressing needs that should be addressed in the guidelines for different program types were reported. The meeting was attended by 38 JAOS members from 29 member organizations and 10 members of FGER from 8 governmental organizations (American Embassy, Japan-U.S. Educational Commission, Australian Government’s Organization for International Education, Ireland’s Governmental Bureau for Business Affairs, New Zealand Embassy’s Section for Business Affairs, the British Council, and France’s Government Office for Overseas Studies).