Under the University of Tokyo Global Internship Program, which was launched in 2019, Daikin Industries, Ltd. (“Daikin”) accepts students from the University of Tokyo (“UTokyo”) for internships at its sales, production and R&D bases around the world with the aim of accelerating human resource exchange and creating outcomes for the collaborative achievements between the two parties, as part of its cooperation with UTokyo in the efforts to promote globalization and nurture global human resources.

Even though it was not possible for participants to make in-person visits to local sites due to the COVID-19 pandemic in this year’s program, which was the third of its kind, 23 students from different years at the students, different fields of specialization, and of various nationalities, participated in a total of 23 sessions during the two-month internship period (July 31 to September 24, 2021) with Daikin’s operational bases across the world making full use of the online system.

In the recent program, the students were able to gain experience from listening to the real voices of the front line in relation to their assigned missions, i.e., hearing from executives and employees working at Daikin’s overseas bases about the local culture, on-site issues, etc. This year, as a new initiative to combine university knowledge with practical business knowledge in order to produce a more fulfilling result, lectures and guidance from professors at UTokyo were incorporated into the program. This approach combining both business and academic aspects made the discussions among the students even more lively.

This year’s program was a hybrid event, but we hope that next year, students will be able to make an in-person visit to Daikin’s overseas bases and take part in on-site internships there to accelerate corporation with the company.