Global Human Resources Development: Preparation for Internships Abroad

Abstract

Various actions are taken for fostering global human resources according to the increase in the “globalization of enterprises.” So far, the actions that have been taken are: 1) studying abroad programs; 2)
visiting Japanese companies in Thailand; 3) cultural exchange opportunities with Japanese people; and 4) inviting experts from the private sector to give lectures on Japanese business culture and business etiquette.
Recently, the number of foreign students hoping to find a job in Japan has increased, and educators have attempted to equip students with the necessary skills to work globally. An off-campus internship (for a total of 150 hours) during the summer has been offered to students majoring in Japanese at Thammasat University since 2014, and the academic year of 2016 was the first opportunity for the students at Thammasat to have work experience in the hospitality industry (food services) in Japan. This paper focuses on the analysis of a support system to prepare students for an internship abroad. The program was comprised of twenty hours of intensive lectures with simultaneous interpretation and store comparison activities, and ten hours of work experience in a fast food restaurant in Bangkok. Participant observation, student presentations and reflection reports, and lecturers’ assessment reports were used as data collection tools in order to gain insight into the various aspects of the study. The results of the study showed that the core competencies of students that need to be developed and enhanced were “critical thinking skills” “communication skills” and “social skills”. At the same time, the teacher’s role needs to be shifted to a facilitator role—helping the students build up their confidence to work in a global market.