【Summary】

The “Trans-Asia Border Challenge Program” is a program that aims to build a foundation for human resources who are healthy, have respect and tolerance for other’s values, and can play an active role as X-Border Persons (Person with independence in cross-border society) in order to survive in turbulent 21^st century. The program aims to develop human resources who can play an active role in a global environment in flexible manner through engagement of fieldwork -type internship. Six Japanese undergraduate students and six Thai students participated in the program in Bangkok, Thailand, from 4 to 9 February 2024.
All the participants answered, as a result of the engagement, that they improved their ability to think, make proposals and gain confidence in their actions through fieldwork-type    missions on “Future Business and Management strategies” for Thai football.
Although they did not successfully complete the four given missions, all participants were observed to have positive behavioral changes considering the result of the “Pre- and Post- program comparisons” (on a scale of 1 to 10) of seven significant elements of “Global mindset”：１．Initiative to think and act independently;　2．Ability to break through and take action; 3．Communication　skills not depending on language proficiency; ４．Ability to tackle with various situations; ５．Ability to involve with passion;　and ６．Mental toughness and resilience; ７．Strong motivation and confidence to work anywhere.

【Project Objective】

The number of students studying abroad has plummeted in Japan after the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the expansion of business globalization, there is an urgent need to train up young people with having a global mind-set to play an active role in global society. On the other hand, there are few opportunities for Thai people to communicate with Japanese people and there are no opportunities to learn about cutting edge Japanese sports management, case of J-League and football society. The Cross-border Challenge Program in Asia aims to provide the necessary knowledge and skills through a fieldwork-type internship by a joint team of Japanese and Thai students.

【Activities/projects】

〇 Day1, Sunday 4 February：Arrival in Bangkok (Japanese students) and welcome reception by Thai students.

〇 Day2, Monday 5 February：Cultural exchange, self-introduction in various languages

〇 Day3, Tuesday 6 February：Survey on sports popularity in Thailand（Interview with over 50　persons）

〇 Day4, Wednesday 7 February：Proposed solutions to issue raised by local Thai companies. (Interview with at least 10 people)

〇 Day5, Thursday 8 February：Proposed solutions to issue raised by local companies in Thailand（including interview with at least 10 people）

〇 Day6, Friday 9 February：Preparation and presentation “Business strategy for the development of Thai football based on previous experience”（including interview with at least 10 people and consideration of SDGs）

〇 Day7,  Saturday 10 February：Departure from Bangkok（Japanese Student）

【Outcome】

〇 Six Japanese undergraduate students and six Thai students participated in the program held in Bangkok, Thailand from 4 to 9 February 2024.

〇 The results of the pre- and post-comparison (marking on a scale of 1 to 10), considering the seven significant elements of the global mindset, showed that all participants were observed positive behavioral changes. In particular, Japanese students showed a significant improvement in “7. Strong motivation and confidence to work anywhere”. This can be considered as evidence that the participants gained a mindset that allows them to challenge the global environment without fear.

【Related URL】

「アフターコロナ時代のアジア越境チャレンジプログラム」50文字で世界への扉を開こう！無償参加枠及び一般募集開始のお知らせ | 鎌倉インターナショナルFC (kamakura-inter.com) (Article in Japanese)

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