Haniel Japan Program

It all began in 2004 with a seminar series with the theme “Halle in Japan – Japan in Halle”. The Haniel Foundation decided to commit long-term to building bridges between Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and Keiô University in Tokyo – an elite Japanese university. Since then, the two universities have signed a partnership agreement and developed a double master’s programme, the first of its kind between a German and a Japanese full-scale university. Since 2010, the course has been implemented as the Japan Programme in cooperation with the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. The Japan Programme allows five students a year to attend the two-year double master’s course, whereby they not only acquire outstanding knowledge of Japanese language and culture, but also a German and a Japanese master’s degree. The objective is to educate Japan experts to act as skilled intermediaries between Europe and Asia in the context of their own discipline. Many former students have already successfully started their careers with renowned Japanese companies or in the field of Japanese studies.

Multifaceted commitment

In addition, the Haniel Foundation is championing the establishment of German-Japanese academic and economic exchange in many ways. Under the Haniel Japan Programme, it awards scholarships for short stays, years abroad and research visits. In order to prepare the students from Japan and Germany linguistically and technically for the reciprocal short stays alongside economic topics, the Haniel Foundation also supports e-learning and online seminars in Japanese as innovative teaching methods. And to promote exchange at professor level, a foundation guest professorship has been established at the Martin Luther University that regularly allows Japanese university lecturers to teach and research in Germany.