Episode #118: PM Abe Deletes Soft Skills Development

On June 8th this year Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura told Japanese universities to take “active steps to abolish (social science and humanities departments) or convert them to serve areas that better meet society’s needs”. There was no wiggle room on interpreting the message – he clearly said do what we say or we will cut your funding. So far 26 have gotten the message and have complied with the new policy position of the Japanese government.

The justification was that this was needed “in light of the decrease of the university age population, the demand for human resources and the function of national universities”. Abenomics declares that the role of national universities is to produce “human resources that match the needs of society by accurately grasping changes in industrial structure and employment needs”. Abe himself declared in May last year in his OECD speech that “rather than deepening academic research that is highly theoretical, we will conduct more practical vocational education that better anticipates the needs of society”.

This is pretty curious stuff coming from Abe’s Cabinet. About 18 months ago, for the first time, we started to hear from our clients about their interest in having more liberal arts aspects to their company in-house education programmes. They told us they need people who can think, can articulate their thoughts and they are looking to encourage more diversity of views. They wanted to encourage innovation as a direct result of this effort.

What are we witnessing here? Is this another part of the political thrust to the right under Abe? Is the objective to create a technocrat population of docile people who can toe the line and follow orders? The Japan Times noted, “Without exception, totalitarian states invariably reject knowledge in the humanities and states that reject such knowledge always become totalitarian”. Is this a Sputnik moment for Abe, when his answer to Japan falling behind is to ape the America of the 1950s and stress mathematics and science subjects, to produce more engineers to solve Japan’s problems?

The vocational relevancy of Abe’s attack on “soft skill” subjects is in serious doubt. Companies we deal with are stressing the development of people who can communicate, think, share ideas and be creative. The Japanese industry peak body, the Keidanren, is at complete odds with the Abe Cabinet over just what are relevant vocational skills. Keidanren Chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara, from Toray, made this point, “Some media reported that the business community is seeking work-ready human resources, not students in the humanities, but this is not the case”. He also noted that Japanese business people desire the “exact opposite”. They want students who can solve problems based on “ideas encompassing the different fields” of science and humanities.

The Science Council of Japan weighed in as well backing the importance of the humanities. In cooperation with the natural sciences they are there to solve “contemporary problems domestically as well as internationally.

Are we setting ourselves up for failure? The population of students is set to decline by one third over the next 15 years, from 650,000 students in 2018 to 480,000 in 2031. Abe is correct to identify the critical importance of a diminishing human resource for business, but his antidote seems completely at variance with what business needs in Japan.

As many companies make the move overseas, technical abilities are needed but dealing with diversity as a leader becomes even more critical for the success of the enterprise. It is well recognised that soft skills are the keys to successfully leading an international business. The supply of humanities graduates will disappear in line with government policy. Therefore, the pressure on companies to compensate becomes much greater. If you haven’t planned for this requirement, the time to start is now.

Action Steps

Plan for University graduates needing more company delivered basic education

Make internal company education a differentiator for recruiting and retaining a diminishing resource – young people

Promote more soft skill training, especially communication, problem solving and critical thinking

Educate Middle Managers to become more skillful at encouraging a more diverse range of views on solving problems