The Laurasian Institution

The Laurasian Institution serves as the US-side administrator of the J-corps, Jr. program. As the US-side administrator, it sets the policy for the program, cooperates to select the participants with the Japan-side administrator, and ensures the program's smooth operation in the US.

The Laurasian Institution is a private, not-for-profit, operating foundation incorporated in
the state of Illinois. It maintains a particular commitment to international and cross-cultural education. Programs of The Laurasian Institution serve the public benefit by achieving the following mission and purposes:

Mission and Purposes
In order to foster cultural understanding and appreciation of diversity, The Laurasian Institution creates direct interpersonal learning experiences for "Individuals within Communities". In the design of its programs, The Laurasian Institution gives particular attention to:
• Cultural interactions within the Asia-Pacific region;
• Effective curricula and educational pedagogy and training methodology; and
• Feedback, assessment, and continual improvement.

Participants in our program will:
• Experience the impact culture has on economies, political systems, and societies;
• Develop individual competencies in engaging with other cultures; and
• Acquire life skills that can benefit them and their communities beyond these specific programs. In addition to the J-corps Program, The Laurasian Institution is engaged in a number of other projects involving international education. Many of these efforts are collaborative in nature.

Projects include:
• The creation of principles for quality assurance in international education
(with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development);

• New Perspectives: Japan—a curriculum-based study tour program that takes American teachers and students to Japan. Extensions to the New Perspectives program includes NP:J Plus, an intensive Japanese language program for high school students; NP:J Fellows, a program designed for teachers and students who have never studied Japanese; and the NP:USA, a program to bring Japanese teachers and students on a study tour of the United States. Plans to expand the New Perspectives Program to Thailand and Vietnam are also on the drawing board.

• University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP)—a program providing access for the widest possible range of American undergraduates to high-quality educational opportunities in the Asia Pacific.