Nissan's Investment in Young People Who Will Support Society in the Future

Tokyo -- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has recently selected scholarship recipients for the fifth-term (FY 2002) of the Nissan-NPO Learning Scholarship Program. It is holding a ceremony to mark the completion of the fourth term of the Nissan-NPO Learning Scholarship Program and an orientation seminar to start the fifth term in the auditorium at Nissan's head office at 6:30 this evening.

At the combined events for the completion and the orientation seminar, Mr. Carlos Ghosn, President of Nissan Motor, will be personally presenting the fourth-term scholarship recipients with certificates of completion. He will also be delivering a message of encouragement to the effect that he wholeheartedly supports the young people undertaking the challenge of gaining intellectual experience as well as the people of NPOs who have been tackling the tasks of resolving varied social issues. In addition, former U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum, the Ambassadress of His Excellency Mr. Howard Baker, US Ambassador to Japan, will be attending as a special guest and giving a speech to encourage the scholarship students.

Under the Nissan-NPO Learning Scholarship Program, Nissan recruits and selects students who want to experience the activities of an NPO (nonprofit organization) and provides those selected with scholarships commensurate with the results of their internship activities at such organizations. Nissan launched this program in 1998 as a fresh initiative for promoting human resources development for the future in partnerships with NPOs. Its objective is to give students an opportunity to develop their creativity, ability to think by themselves and capacity for self-initiated action in the process of acquiring intellectual experience at NPOs. Nissan has positioned this Learning Scholarship Program as an  "investment"  in young people who will be responsible for supporting society in the future.

In March, Nissan began accepting applications for the fifth term (FY 2002) by posting notices calling for applications at universities in the Kanto and Kansai regions and also via the Internet.

A total of 147 students from 51 universities applied this time, which exceeded the number of last year's applicants. Based on a screening of their application documents and interviews, 17 scholarship recipients were chosen for the fifth term. They will enter into activity programs, beginning this month.

Fifteen NPOs have been selected as the host organizations this year, thirteen of which are based in the Kanto region and two in the Kansai region. These NPOs are active in diverse fields, including environmental protection, international cooperation, culture and the arts, and social welfare. Each organization will host one or two students based on activity programs prepared for them and give them guidance. The activity programs are designed in such a way as to avoid interference with the students' university studies (a long-term course of up to 300 hours and a short-term intensive course of up to 150 hours), and Nissan will provide the students with a scholarship for the results of their internship activities which are certified monthly by a competent person of a host NPO.

The following remarks were made by some of the fifth-term scholarship recipients as their motives for taking the program.  "I would like to develop my ability to contribute to society with my own conviction by acquiring a capacity for social action, an ability to think, and creative mindset through working at an NPO."   "This scholarship program will give me a golden opportunity to delve into my research theme in passing on the fruits of my research work to the real world."   "I would like to feel first hand the diversity, flexibility, and professionalism of NPOs, and thereby learn something that cannot be acquired at universities by getting involved in their activities not just as a volunteer but as a contributing staff member."  And  "I would like to experience systems for moving people who are aware of social concerns in an organized manner. At the same time, I wish to broaden my horizons so that I will be able to see things in society from multifaceted perspectives by belonging to an organization other than a university." 

The experience of working with a pioneering spirit at NPOs that are actively engaged in the pursuit of diverse social issues and coming to contact with specialized disciplines and excellent leadership is expected to offer good opportunities for young people to cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship, as they will be responsible for supporting society in the future. Meanwhile, the host NPOs can capitalize on the opportunities to convey the social significance of their initiatives to the students and eventually secure human resources for their future activities. This scholarship program has thus attracted widespread interest from many different quarters of society since its inception. The outline of the program for FY 2002 is given below.

Outline of the Fifth Term (FY 2002) of the Nissan-NPO Learning Scholarship Program  

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