Preface

The trend towards market-oriented training systems gives an increasingly prominent role to the private sector. Enterprises, in particular, are expected to undertake a proactive role in training. Conversely, the traditional role of the State is evolving from government-led and government-owned training systems towards creating an enabling environment for enterprises and individuals, employers and workers, to invest and actively participate in a collective training effort.

Partnerships and strategic alliances between the interested parties have become the key strategy to improve the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, equity and sustainability of training policies, systems and programmes. Training is increasingly conceived and promoted as a cooperative effort in which the various relevant institutions in the public and private sectors must participate and share responsibilities. Moreover, the partners concerned are being called upon to contribute to the overall training effort, and to articulate their inputs, making the best possible use of their respective strengths and comparative advantages.

In practical terms, only a few countries have set up a coherent systemic framework and appropriate incentives for these partnerships to flourish on a large scale. Nevertheless, there is already an assortment of innovative and interesting experiences throughout the world which offer options and lessons for promoting public/private alliances in training.

In order to capture the nature, range, and extent of innovations, the constraints faced and opportunities created by these partnerships, the Training Policies and Systems Branch (POLFORM) of the ILO undertook an extensive research programme "Strategic Training Partnerships between State and enterprises". The work between 1995 - 1997 included case studies covering 26 experiences in 14 countries from various regions: Australia, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, United States. Based on these experiences, extensive review of literature and discussions on the subject at national and international levels, analytical, conceptual and policy papers were elaborated.

Preliminary results of the research programme were presented and discussed at numerous seminars and conferences including two major ILO regional meetings, one for Asian countries ("Asian Experiences in Strategic Partnerships between Enterprises and the State", Chiba, Japan, December 1995, in collaboration with the Asian and Pacific Skills Development Programme, APSDEP), and one for Latin American and Caribbean countries ("Strategic Alliances in Training", Santiago de Chile, May 1997, in collaboration with the Inter-American Research and Documentation Center, CINTERFOR).

The research programme also provided a contribution to the ILO Enterprise Forum (Geneva, November, 1996), on the theme "Training for Employability".

The collection of papers produced under this research programme are listed at the back of this document as Training Partnership Papers. They are available in English, French and Spanish from the documentation service of the Employment and Training Department.

The results of the work accomplished in this area, and the experiences, concepts and messages conveyed, have raised considerable interest and contributed to demonstrate possible avenues for innovative ways of rebalancing the roles and responsibilities of the private and public sectors in training. Hopefully, the lessons learned from these experiences will contribute towards building trust and fostering cooperation between the two sectors, stimulating their participation and promoting the best use of their respective strengths in training. It should also help to lay the basis for improving awareness and institutional capacity for collaboration and joint ventures on human resources development and training among a wider span of institutions and interested parties in the public and private sectors.

The variety and dynamism in this innovative and promising area is phenomenal and deserves an on-going effort in accumulating, analyzing and exchanging information, and raising debate at the country, regional and international levels. With this aim, the scope of the programme on Strategic Partnerships in Training will be broadened in the coming years. Readers are encouraged to contact the Training Policies and Systems Branch for further exchange of information and experiences on this theme.

María Angélica Ducci
Chief
Training Policies and Systems Branch
Employment and Training Department

Trends in micro-electronic technology and employment

Technological developments in the 1980s had a very broad impact on the Japanese economy and society. One of the most remarkable aspects of recent technological innovations is the widespread introduction of micro-electronic technology into a very wide range of industries. Numerically controlled machines and industrial robots are now working alongside workers in many manufacturing industries. In 1992, the Japan Association of Industrial Robots Industry forecast that the number of industrial robots in Japan would increase from 385,000 in 1990 to 1,118,000 in 2000.

For workers, the adoption of micro-electronic technologies at the workplace, especially in manufacturing, has had an important impact on skill requirements in their jobs. Table 1 shows that significant changes in the skills of workers occurred in two-thirds of factory workplaces. The introduction of micro-electronic technologies has made it necessary for workers to develop new skills in addition to those required previously.

Table 1. Skill changes required as a result of the introduction of micro-electronic technology

Moreover, the development of micro-electronic technologies has affected the skills and technologies used by white-collar workers and office personnel, as well as workers in manufacturing industries. Office personnel and sales staff in shops need to be able to handle personal computers and other types of office automation.

The changes in skill requirements as a result of new micro-electronic technologies has also deeply affected the employment structure in workplaces. Manual skills have rapidly reduced in importance, while skills in operating micro-electronic applications have become much more necessary.

A survey carried out by the Ministry of Labor in 1987 showed that 28.3 per cent of the companies surveyed recognized that the introduction of new micro-electronic technologies would lead to changes in the employment structure of their companies. The most notable change is the great increase in demand for technicians, or skilled workers with intermediate skills and technical qualifications, who are expected to have enough knowledge of new industrial micro-electronic technologies to be able to manage and operate the relevant equipment. In contrast, the employment of workers skilled in the use of older technologies and production systems and of unskilled workers decreased sharply.

Demand and supply of skilled labour in computers and information technologies

Population growth in Japan is now slowing down and the population will peak early next century. The numbers of young persons will decline earlier than the rest of the population. The numbers of new entrants to the labour market are therefore expected to be lower next century. However, the decrease in the number of young workers and the comparative increase in the numbers of older people will lead to an ageing of the workforce. On the demand side, many new job opportunities will be created in information and related industries in such areas as programming and systems engineering.

In 1992, the Ministry of Labor's Research Committee on Human Resources Development in the Labour Shortage Economy studied the probable changes in the employment structure in Japan in the early twenty-first century and proposed new manpower development policies. The Committee's report states that by the year 2000 the numbers of jobs related to new technologies will have increased enormously, as shown in table 2. The number of data processing engineers will rise to 1.48 million, 80 per cent higher than in 1990. In contrast, the increase in the numbers of metal and machine workers is expected to be very small.

Table 2. Forecast increase in employment by occupation by the year 2000 (1990=100)

Securing a supply of engineers and skilled workers in information technology and related fields in the coming periods of labour shortage will be high on the list of urgent policy issues to ensure the future economic development of Japan. There are three principal sources of information engineers and technicians. The first consists of graduates from universities, engineering colleges and trade schools, such as computer colleges, in the public and private education systems. The second is composed of graduates from polytechnic colleges and human resources development centres in the public vocational training system. A third source is expected to be trainees in the training facilities of private enterprises.

The Research Committee's report estimates that the demand for systems engineers and programmers between 1990 and 2000 will reach a total of 559,000. The supply during that period will amount to 321,000 university graduates, 31,900 trainees from colleges, 50,000 from other schools and 24,500 from public vocational training institutes. This leaves 132,000 to be supplied by various types of private trade schools for computer sciences and programming. Another 48,000 workers with these skills are expected to originate from other sources, such as job- leavers, new entrants to the labour market and retrained workers.

The supply of persons with these skills from schools and the public vocational training system is likely to be well below the forecast level of demand. It has therefore become necessary and urgent to adopt policies that promote vocational training in the private sector, as well as other sources of computer and information engineers.

The vocational training system in Japan and the problems of small enterprises

The provision of vocational training in Japan is shared between the public and private sectors. The vocational training that is provided by the national and local governments is designed to implement national and regional employment promotion and skill development policies, as well as industrial development and education policies. The principal functions of public vocational training are to provide introductory training to give new entrants to the labour market the skills and experience to find their first jobs and to train unemployed workers and workers who have been made redundant in the skills that they need for re-employment. Another objective is to assist employers and workers in small enterprises, most of which find it both financially and technically difficult to provide vocational training themselves.

To achieve these objectives, the Government established the vocational training system in accordance with the Human Resources Development Promotion Law of 1969. Various types of public training institutes were set up throughout the country in accordance with this Law, as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Vocational training in Japan

Vocational training in the private sector is mainly provided to meet the needs of enterprises for skilled workers on their production lines. Employers know that the skills of workers directly affect the quality of their products and productivity, which will both be crucial to compete on the domestic and international markets.

Table 3 shows the numbers of enterprises that provide vocational training for their workers. A high percentage of enterprises in the tertiary industries, such as finance, insurance and services, including information technologies, provide vocational training for their personnel. Many enterprises in some manufacturing sectors, which require a high level of capital investment and sophisticated equipment, such as chemicals and steel, also provide vocational training. One of the reasons why enterprises in these industries are keen to provide vocational training is that their workforce consists of a high portion of professionals and engineers. Training for employees with a higher-level educational background tends to be more effective in improving productivity.

Table 3. Percentage of companies providing training for their workers in 1992

In contrast, only a small number of enterprises engaged in wholesale, retail and construction tend to provide training for their workforce. The same is true in some manufacturing sectors, such as clothing and textiles, where small enterprises tend to be common. The underlying reason for this may be that many small enterprises cannot afford to provide training facilities and programmes for their workers for financial and other business-related reasons.

The fact that vocational training is provided by a majority of enterprises may reflect the history of industrial development in Japan. In the early days of industrial development, the Meiji Government took the initiative of promoting skills. It established many model factories with Western production systems, for which it was necessary to train workers with the advice and technical assistance of foreign experts employed by the Government. The Government also opened engineering schools at many levels to produce engineers and technicians. However, the volumes of trainees produced in model factories and the capacities of schools were well below the level required to meet the demand from enterprises. It became so hard to recruit skilled workers on the labour market that most employers had to take it upon themselves to train the workers whom they required.

Gradually, as private enterprises emerged and grew larger, most of them could afford to provide their own training facilities for their employees. They were able to attract workers with better skills by offering them better working conditions. They were also able to recruit university graduates every year and provide them with appropriate training.

Enterprises are now providing their own comprehensive training programmes, with proper facilities and staff, which provide appropriate vocational training to workers at the various stages of their career. Workers are offered suitable courses when they join the enterprise, are promoted to new positions, transferred to a different job or when they need to be retrained. Even when they remain in the same job, they are often requested to undertake training to upgrade and refresh their knowledge and skills.

A serious problem with respect to vocational training in the private sector is the existence of large differences in the practices of large and small enterprises. As shown in table 3, the larger the size of the enterprise, the higher the level of vocational training provided. There is also a significant difference in the type of vocational training, as shown in table 4. Smaller enterprises tend to give preference to on-the-job training, while larger enterprises provide a greater proportion of off-the-job training. The distinction is important in terms of the development of skills in the fields of information technology and micro-electronic technology, for which a certain proportion of off-the-job training is required. Engineers and skilled workers in these fields need to acquire a certain level of theoretical knowledge, which is best gained in the classroom. There are therefore serious problems in the vocational training provided by smaller enterprises with regard to the introduction of advanced computerized machines and production systems.

Table 4. Types of training by enterprise size, 1991 (in percentages)

Table 5 gives some indications as to why employers in smaller enterprises are reluctant to provide vocational training for their employees, especially in the form of off-the-job training. In the first place, they experience difficulties in allocating working hours to train workers. Some 71 per cent of employers with fewer than 100 employees replied that they have no time to provide vocational training. The underlying reason in this respect is the problem of cost. Smaller enterprises cannot afford to allow their workers to leave their workplaces to undergo training during their working hours, since they usually adopt the minimum level of staffing for their business activities. They also tend to consider that, in their financial situation, they cannot afford to pay the wages and other costs of workers who are receiving training outside their workplace.

In the second place, they point to the lack of training hardware and software. Some 35 per cent of them consider that the provision of facilities for training is a constraint, while 22 per cent point to a lack of expertise. Investments in training facilities and instructors, as well as training materials, do not produce a direct financial reward for enterprises, although they contribute to their future profits. Employers therefore tend to be reluctant to make this type of investment. The lack of training materials in smaller enterprises is also due to the fact that they are often in a tight financial situation.

Table 5. Stated reasons for not providing vocational training (in percentages)

The above analyses point to a number of conclusions. The problems experienced by smaller enterprises in providing vocational training can be summarized as follows:

• the shortage of funds to provide facilities and to send workers for training outside the workplace;
• the shortage of the necessary expertise to plan the training programme to meet the present and future needs of the enterprises and to carry out training properly; and
• the shortage of manpower, especially skilled and experienced training staff, to provide training adapted to the latest industrial technology.

If these problems are to be addressed, there is a need for policies that offer financial support for employers in smaller enterprises for the provision of vocational training, including training facilities and equipment. It is also necessary to provide technical assistance, including instructors and training methods and materials, for employers in smaller enterprises to assist in the provision of vocational training that meets their requirements.

Policies to promote the provision of vocational training in the private sector

In view of the problems that exist in the provision of vocational training in the private sector, especially in smaller enterprises, the Government has introduced several programmes to promote vocational training in the private sector, most of which are targeted at smaller enterprises. Financial assistance is provided through a subsidy scheme to help employers in smaller enterprises cover part of the costs of authorized vocational training. Under the terms of the Human Resources Development Promotion Law of 1969, trainees in authorized vocational training courses provided by employers are entitled to the same official qualifications as trainees in public vocational training schemes. A loan programme is designed to permit them to construct vocational training facilities and to purchase equipment. In addition, there is a range of grant schemes to encourage workers to undertake training to upgrade and redevelop their skills.

To overcome the lack of expertise in the field of vocational training, the Employment Promotion Corporation is developing a network of human resources development service centres in all prefectures to provide employers with advice and consultancy services on the planning and implementation of vocational training. The centres also advise workers on the development of their skills and the selection of training courses. The Employment Promotion Corporation sends instructors and training staff to employers in the region to carry out vocational training and makes its facilities, including the above centres, available to employers to train their workers. The centres also organize specially arranged training courses to meet the needs of workers in smaller enterprises. The Employment Promotion Corporation is a governmental body coming under the responsibility of the Ministry of Labor. All the funds are allocated by the Government, mainly through the Employment Insurance Fund.

Community vocational training centres and computer colleges

Community vocational training centres

Community vocational training centres are one of the measures adopted by the Government to provide vocational training facilities to smaller enterprises that experience difficulty in obtaining their own training facilities. It is the first programme that explicitly promotes public/private partnerships in vocational training, which is known as the "third sector" formula.

The Employment Promotion Corporation, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Labor, constructs facilities, including classrooms, training workshops, libraries and offices, and provides the necessary training equipment. Private sector representatives organize vocational training associations and are entrusted with the management and operation of community vocational training centres in the respective communities. The centres are mainly used for the vocational training of workers employed by enterprises that are members of the association, as well as for the provision of cooperative vocational training facilities. The vocational training association that is responsible for the management of each centre is a legal vocational training entity under the terms of the Human Resources Development Promotion Law of 1969.

Computer colleges

In the Japanese vocational training system, computer colleges are a form of community vocational training centre. They are intended to assist employers to provide vocational training focused on computer sciences and information technology. Most of them are located in strategic areas to promote new industries. These areas are known as "technopolis" or "teletopias". They are designated by the Government as strategic new industrial areas and are given various types of assistance for their development. With government assistance, local governments provide the infrastructure and invite research institutes and enterprises to establish facilities for the provision of training in new technologies and information and computer engineering.

Computer colleges are also set up according to the "third sector" formula, as well as in the form of community vocational training centres. Their buildings and equipment are provided by the Employment Promotion Corporation and their management and operation are entrusted to a vocational training association in the respective region, most of which are specially established for the computer college. The members consist of representatives of private enterprises, including software and computer enterprises, as well as of the regional local government. The remarkable feature is the direct participation of local governments in the management of the colleges as fairly active members of the respective associations.

There are many reasons why computer colleges have emerged as an important aspect of the measures taken to support Japanese industrial development and employment policies. The first of these is the need to meet the enormous increase in demand for persons who are skilled with computers and information technology. In view of the size of the demand and its projected increase beyond the end of the century, the Government needs to take effective measures to ensure that there is an adequate supply of skilled labour. Computer colleges play an important role, alongside the expanding engineering departments of national and private universities, in meeting this anticipated demand.

In the second place, the computer colleges fulfil a function as an employment promotion measure to counteract the adverse effect on employment of these new technologies, which has been aggravated by the recent long recession.

Employers in Japan are considered to be reluctant to dismiss workers who are no longer needed because of technological innovation. They prefer to retain them and redeploy them to new jobs in the enterprise. The Government now gives a certain importance to assisting employers in the redeployment of excess workers, particularly through retraining programmes, in view of its policies to combat unemployment. Computer colleges are expected to play a significant role in retraining these excess workers by providing them with the skills and knowledge needed to carry out new jobs.

A third aim is to create new employment to combat the "hollowing out" of industries, which is having a severe effect on employment and Japanese society. The recent remarkable economic growth of newly industrialized and developing countries, especially in Asia, has hit Japan hard. Because of broad differentials of production and manpower costs between Japan and developing economies, Japanese manufactured products have been losing their competitiveness on the international market. Japanese enterprises are therefore moving their production facilities to developing countries to improve their competitiveness through the lower production and manpower costs in those countries. However, this policy had led to a reduction of production and employment opportunities in Japan, resulting in lower economic growth and serious employment problems. To address these problems, the Government needs to create new employment opportunities by promoting new industries that can compete with the goods produced by developing countries.

A total of 15 computer colleges have now been established and are operational. A list is given in Annex I. All the computer colleges are run by especially established vocational training associations or foundations, composed of representatives of the prefecture, cities and towns, private vocational training bodies and enterprises, including software and information technology enterprises in the respective areas. Software companies, as members of the managing organization, contribute their knowledge and experience to the training provided in the colleges.

The capacity of each college in terms of trainees is usually around 100 per year. The training period is two years, with not less than 1,400 hours of training. The subjects covered by the training include computer operation and programming, MC control systems and the implementation of business transactions by computer. Graduates are expected to have acquired knowledge and skills equivalent to those of an engineer, second class, in information processing certified by a national examination.

Nishi-Harima Computer College

The Nishi-Harima Computer College is one of the 15 computer colleges and is located in the Harima Kagaku-koen Toshi (Harima Scientific Park City), west of Kobe, Hyogo. Since 1982, the city has been developed as the core of the Nishi-Harima Development Project and Technopolis. It is expected to promote the development of the region by promoting new technology industries that will revitalize the local economy. Large and leading enterprises in the Kansai area, such as Kobe Steel, Kansai Electric Power, Matsushita and NTT, have decided to establish their factories and research institutes there. Many other large, medium-sized and small enterprises, including venture companies, are also planning to locate there.

The college was opened in 1991 and started training in 1992. The Employment Promotion Corporation provides the necessary buildings, such as classrooms, training workshops, libraries, offices and equipment, including a set of medium-sized mainframe computers and work stations.

The Nishi-Harima Johoshori Jinzai Kaihatsu Zaidan (Nishi-Harima Foundation for Human Resources Development in Information Processing) has been newly set up as the body responsible for managing the college. It is composed of representatives of the Hyogo Prefecture and of 14 cities and towns in Hyogo and Nishi-Harima Technopolis. Its members from private enterprise include Kobe Steel, Nippon Steel, Kansai Electric Power, NTT, Fujitsu, NEC and IBM Japan. The President of the Foundation is the Governor of Hyogo. Several software companies and computer technology companies also are members. The principal and most active members are the Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe Steel. They assist the college in developing training plans and curricula and in carrying out training.

The college's training courses include the information systems course, covering the business course (35 trainees) and the systems course (30 trainees), and the systems control course (35 trainees). It has a capacity of 100 trainees per year. The duration of all courses is two years.

The training courses carried out by the college conform to the initial training (regular course) of the authorized vocational training set out in the Human Resources Development Promotion Law of 1969. Curricula are developed to meet the needs of employers in the area and may therefore be more flexible in their training content than those of authorized vocational training courses. The qualification achieved by trainees is equivalent to high school graduation. The courses consist of 1,400 hours of training per year, including lectures, practice in the classroom and practice in the workshop. An outline of the courses is given in Annex II.

The numbers of applicants to the college are shown in table 6. Applicants come mainly from within the prefecture/region. The number of applicants has been decreasing slightly, although this is not considered serious by the college, as there are sufficient applicants to select well-qualified trainees. Nearly 90 per cent of the applicants and entrants are male, but the ratio of female applicants and entrants is larger than in other engineering schools.

Table 6. Trainee numbers at two computer colleges

The employment rate of trainees after completing their training is also shown in table 6. The college has got off to a good start, which may be largely due to the fact that it was established with the cooperation of local governments and enterprises. There are sufficient job offers for the trainees, nearly 90 per cent of whom are able to find employment in the region before completing their training. About 60 per cent of them find jobs in the information technology industry.

Isahaya Computer College

The Isahaya Computer College is located in an industrial promotion area in the Nagasaki Prefecture, north-west of Kyushu. During the period of economic recovery after the Second World War, Nagasaki was an industrially flourishing region dependent on coalmining and shipbuilding. However, in the subsequent period of fast economic growth, these industries lost their predominant roles as powerful locomotives of economic growth. Nagasaki became an industrially depressed area with severe unemployment. To revive it as an industrially developing area, the Prefecture gave priority to new industries based on micro-electronic technology. The Prefecture, together with cities and towns, provides the infrastructure, including an industrial zone and several programmes to encourage enterprises to establish their plants in Nagasaki by offering them various privileges. The computer college is one of the focal points to attract enterprises. It is for this reason that there was great enthusiasm for establishing a college in the region.

The Nishi-Kyushu Johoshori Kaihatsu Zaidan (Nishi-Kyushu Foundation for the Development of Information Processing) is the body responsible for running the college, as established by the Nagasaki Prefecture, together with the cities and towns of the region, chambers of commerce and industries and private enterprises. The Mayor of Isahaya chairs the Foundation, which includes representatives of many of the leading companies in the region, such as NTT, IBM, Sony, Kyushu Electric Power, Mitsubishi Electric and a number of software companies.

The college was opened in 1987. The facilities and equipment have been provided by the Employment Promotion Corporation and by the Nishi-Harima Computer College. It runs three training courses: a systems course (25 trainees), a programming design course (50 trainees) and a systems design course (25 trainees). Its capacity is 100 trainees per year. As all training courses have a duration of two years, the total capacity is 200, which is the same number as the other colleges.

Most trainees come from Isahaya and neighbouring areas in Nagasaki and Saga, the neighbouring prefecture to Nagasaki. Though there are fewer applicants than to Nishi-Harima, as shown in table 6, the college sees no problem as regards the quality of trainees. The ratios of female applicants and trainees in 1995 were 32.9 and 28.1 per cent respectively, which is higher than in Nishi-Harima.

After completing their training, most trainees also find jobs in the area. Around one-third of graduates work in the information technology industry. The other two-thirds find work outside the information technology industry, although many of them work in jobs related to information technology in other industries.

Conclusion

Computer colleges have two main objectives. One is to provide sufficient numbers of skilled workers to meet the forecast demand for computer and information processing workers in the coming age of the computerized society. The other is to supply skilled workers to the labour market in the industrial development areas in which the colleges are established. The project is in its early days and the graduates are still young. More time is therefore needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the training provided in computer colleges.

With regard to the employment of graduates, the colleges can be said to have achieved their objective. Most graduates of the colleges have found jobs in the areas that would be expected. Employers in the region also continue to offer them jobs. However, there are so many factors that affect the supply and demand for computer and information processing jobs that it is too early to assess the results of the colleges.

One characteristic of computer colleges is quite different from those of other vocational training centres, namely the concept of combining the advantage of public vocational training with the knowledge and experience of the private sector. The colleges are managed and operated according to the "third sector" formula, under which the body responsible for running each centre is established on a cooperative basis between public and private partners. Many private enterprises, as members of the respective foundations, contribute to the success of the colleges with their experience in the field of computer and information processing training. The participation and collaboration of private enterprises ensure that the vocational training provided in the colleges is effective and practical, meeting the real requirements of employers. The skills and knowledge required in the colleges greatly assist young graduates in the types of jobs they are expected to find. It is a great advantage to employers to be able to count on a well-trained workforce with exactly the skills and knowledge that are required for their production processes.

From the point of view of the Government, the "third sector" formula offers many advantages and extends its vocational training programme. In view of the rapidity with which computer technology is developing, upgrading the skills of training staff is a serious problem. Through the "third sector" formula, the Government can obtain instructors and training staff who are skilled in the most advanced technology. If the trainers were to be in public employment, the State would have to maintain the level of its training to meet the requirements of industry in order to be able to satisfy the changing demand for skills with the fixed staff of public training facilities. The fact that the management of the computer colleges is entrusted to the various foundations also has the advantage of making them more efficient and economic than if they had been run by the State.

The vocational training provided in computer colleges at the initiative of their foundations also helps employers understand the need for manpower development and encourages them to provide vocational training in the private sector, especially authorized vocational training. The colleges therefore offer the general benefit of securing and promoting the participation of the private sector in the provision of vocational training.

Bibliography

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Japan Institute of Labor: Employment and employment policy (Japanese Industrial Relations Series), 1988, the Japan Institute of Labor, Tokyo, Japan.

Matsumoto, K.: Shoqai Shokugyo Noryoku Kaihatsu no Aratana Tenkai (New development life-long vocational abilities), 1992, Romu-Gyosei Kenkyusho, Tokyo, Japan.

Ministry of Labor: Gijutsu-Kakushin no Koyo-ni oyobosu Eikyo-tou nikansuru Chosa (Survey on the influences on employment of technical innovation), 1987 (mimeographed; in Japanese).

-- Gijutsu-Kakushin to Rodo nikansuru Chosa (Survey on innovation and labor), 1982 (mimeographed; in Japanese).

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Sumiya, M. et al.: Nippon Shokugyo Kunren Hattatsu-shi (The history of vocational training in Japan), 1970, Japan Institute of Labor, Tokyo, Japan (in Japanese).

Annex I

Computer colleges in Japan

Annex II

Training courses and curricula in the Nishi-Harima Computer College

Information systems

Business course

Capacity:35 trainees (length of training: 2 years)

Training objective:To provide programming skills to computerize business operations

Curriculum: First year:

Introduction to computers
Systems engineering
Programming languages
Business administration
Office automation practices

Second year:

Systems design exercises
Programming exercises
Job analysis
PC practices

Systems course

Capacity:30 trainees (length of training: 2 years)

Training objective:To provide skills to develop computer systems based on an analysis of the situation

Curriculum:First year:

Introduction to computers
Systems engineering
Programming languages
Business administration
Introduction to networking

Second year:

Systems design exercises
Programming exercises
Networking systems analyses and data communication
PC practices

Systems control

Capacity:35 trainees (length of training: 2 years)

Training objective:To provide programming skills to control robots and processes

Curriculum:First year:

Introduction to computers
Electronic engineering
Systems engineering
Programming languages
Automatic control

Second year:

Systems control design exercises
Electronic circuit exercise
PC systems exercises
Programming exercises

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