This May the University of Nebraska at Kearney will welcome 65 new Japanese students from the Japanese-based institution, National Collegiate Network (NCN). The students will arrive on campus May 23 and immediately begin an intensive 12-week English program. The students will attend class 25 hours per week to help prepare them linguistically for their first UNK classes in August.
Two full-time bilingual and bicultural counselors will be housed in the Office of International Education and will provide cultural counseling not only to the NCN students but also to UNK students and faculty. With the help of these counselors, the Office of International Education will provide information, workshops, and programs about Japan and Japanese culture.
“UNK students will be the real winners. By having a strong international student body, UNK students will have the opportunity to learn first hand about the rest of the world. Those students who take advantage of the opportunity will be better prepared for the world in which they will live,” said Jerald Fox, director of the Office of International Education.
The National Collegiate Network is a Japanese-based which brings Japanese high school graduate students to the U.S. to study in a 4-year bachelor degree program under the supervision of Japanese speaking counselors. NCN has grown from an entering class of 44 in 1991 to over 1,400 students enrolled at more than 50 participating universities. Forty-five full-time Japanese speaking counselors and directors staff the 8 North American NCN offices in the to support the students and the universities.
