A Study on Learning by National Public Officials Studying Abroad at Graduate Schools in the United States: From the Results of Text Mining Analysis of Interviews

Abstract

 This study aimed to empirically understand the learning and experience of studying abroad among national public officials who studied at graduate schools in the United States under the National Personnel Authority's long-term overseas researcher system for administrative officers. Two important points were revealed in the analysis of changes in consciousness before and after studying abroad. First, the educational content of the foreign graduate schools and students' lives abroad impacted their cognitive and emotional aspects because of changes in their views of Japan and the United States and their attitudes toward work and the government. Second, as the network analysis results obtained from overseas studies show, one can observe a variety of connections among people in communities. For example, one can consider the connections between researchers at a graduate school where one studies abroad. Furthermore, one can identify connections in the research community in the area where the university is located and the relationships between international students in that area, linked to the children accompanying them. These findings suggest that studying in the United States achieves a certain degree of success in developing human resources from an international perspective, and such students can respond appropriately to the increasingly complex and diverse international environment as internationalization progresses.