The contrast was striking. At a University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) commencement in Okinawa, Japan, the venue was packed with U.S. servicemembers, many wearing their uniforms as they received their diplomas. Then, from among the throng, a woman stepped forward in a traditional Japanese kimono.
She, too, was a UMGC learner.
The kimono-wearing student was a Japanese national who had completed UMGC’s Bridge Program, now in its fourth decade. The unusual immersion program exposes Japanese students to U.S. culture and the English language proficiency they need to pursue degrees at U.S. universities or to embark on international careers.
The program is an example of how UMGC makes a meaningful difference in communities around the world.
For Kyoko Onna, the Bridge Program led to her dream career. When Onna completed the program, she went on to a UMGC undergraduate degree in accounting. Today she lives outside Atlanta, working for Japanese company Ricoh Electronics. The position she holds required English and Japanese language proficiency and an accounting degree from a U.S. university.
She said her resume—thanks to UMGC—made her a perfect match for the job.
“I was in a community college and I did study abroad in the state of Washington, but it was only six months. I was hoping to go back to the states or somewhere overseas for university, but financially I was not able to do that. Then I learned about the Bridge Program,” Onna explained. It was 2010 and she was 23. She said she learned to write essays and to debate in English—all in preparation for a U.S. college degree.
“How important is the Bridge Program? In terms of head count, it’s a small number. But for the overall visibility of what we do in Asia, it’s really big, especially in Okinawa,” said William Stevens, associate director of enrollment operations for UMGC Asia.
The program launched in Okinawa in 1987 as a two-year pilot initiative at the Kadena Air Base. Local residents who were not affiliated with the U.S. military were allowed on the base to study, something that was unprecedented. Thirty-five students enrolled.
Currently, there are about 150 Bridge students spread across seven Japanese cities: Iwakuni, Misawa, Sasebo, Yokota, Yokosuka, Zama and Okinawa. In some classrooms, the Japanese students build their English skills alongside servicemembers’ spouses who are not native English speakers.
“Pick a country and you’ve probably seen a spouse come through from there,” Stevens said. “It may be the Philippines … or Eastern Europe or South America or Mexico.”
UMGC has a similar program in Korea for non-English-speaking military spouses and members of KATUSA, a branch of the Korean army that supports the U.S. military.
In Japan, Bridge Program applicants are reviewed by local government offices and independent groups, such as friends clubs or the intercultural exchange organization Youth For Understanding.
“The students apply to them first and then send in their test scores and we do a secondary review,” said Stevens. The program is gauged to UMGC standards and requires a high school diploma or bachelor’s degree.
“You don’t have to continue onto a UMGC degree after completing the Bridge Program, but if you are interested in UMGC or any English-speaking university at any point, this is a great first step,” Stevens added.
Even as a high school student in Japan, Marina Suzaki knew she wanted to earn a business degree from a university where classes were held in English. Her long-term goal was to work in an international business environment.
“Right after graduating from Japanese high school, I started searching for a college where I could learn business skills in English. However, at the time, I needed to build my English more in order to apply. That’s when I decided to go to the Bridge Program first,” Suzaki said. “I liked the Bridge Program because I could work with people who had the same goals I did. Also, I learned basic writing. Before I started, I did not know anything about the writing skills needed for English.”
The program became the springboard for Suzaki’s pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in business administration. That was followed by an MBA, also at UMGC. Today, Suzaki works in Indonesia for a Japanese consulting company.
Leaving Japan to obtain a degree from a university in the United States or another English-speaking country was beyond her financial means, but Suzaki believes her UMGC experience on the Yokota Air Base—the military port shared by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Air Force—carried additional benefits.
“I have heard that non-American students at U.S universities only hang out with other non-American students, such as a Japanese student who only hang out with other Japanese students. But my experience was so different,” Suzaki said. “At UMGC in Yokota, usually I was the only Japanese student in the class—and I think that was better. I learned so much.”
She also made friendships with people who had similar goals as her. They are now part of her business network. She speaks with one of those friends a couple days a week “about business, about jobs, about career opportunities.”
Stevens said between 15 and 20 percent of recent graduates enrolled in UMGC degree programs as soon as they finished the Bridge Program, just as Suzaki and Onna did. Another 5 percent enrolled in degree programs within a year or two. These students will graduate with a diploma from an accredited U.S. university without incurring the travel and housing expenses that come with studying in the United States.
Onna said taking UMGC classes in Okinawa also permitted her to work full time while studying. She eventually was hired by the U.S. Navy for a job in its finance department on the military base. There, she interacted with English speakers daily and, eventually, met the man who is now her husband.
The Bridge Program can generally be completed within a year. Its sequence of courses covers fundamental speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in English. It also walks students through the practices at U.S. universities. Although about half the students attend classes in person, the rest participate in the courses via Zoom from all over Japan.
Since 2017, UMGC Asia has also offered a non-credit English as a Second Language (ESL) refresher course for Bridge Program graduates who have taken a few years off before applying to U.S. universities.
Onna laughed when she recalled how she thought that studying accounting would make it easier for her to get her UMGC degree.
“It was more difficult for me to write essays than for the English-speakers in my classes. I worried my English wasn’t good enough to compete with them, and I thought accounting would make it easier for me to get higher grades since it’s about numbers, not writing,” she said. “But that wasn’t the case. I still needed to write essays.”
UMGC faculty member Joshua Nieubuurt teaches writing in the Bridge Program. He said his students take their commitment seriously, and the ability they bring to the classroom is impressive. He explained that the biggest difference between the Bridge students and the students in his other classes is cultural.
“When I work with the mainline classes, the Americans in them are happy to share and to have debates with their classmates,” he said. “With the Bridge Program, you first have to build a rapport and build a community.
“Early on in the Bridge Program course I teach, I talk to the students about being comfortable making mistakes. I tell them that I made mistakes learning Japanese.”
Nieubuurt said it is impressive to watch how students begin to merge their ideas with practices in U.S. culture.
“I had a student who was into small bookshops. They found some way to plug that into their life in Japan, with an effort to support bookstores. It was an undertaking that was not common in Japan,” he said. “Another student was interested in children with cancer and the work of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She is researching to see if she can build the idea for something similar in Japan.”
The Bridge Program has been operating long enough that some families even boast multiple graduates.
“Quite often I have people who had older siblings who went through the program or their parents went through it,” said Nieubuurt.
In addition to offering Japanese students a chance to study English and boost their job skills, the program takes seriously its goal to serve as a “bridge” to cross-cultural experiences and friendship.
“I really loved the program. And I met the most wonderful friends through the Bridge Program. … That was the best part. I was able to make lifetime friends,” Onna said.
Stevens said the Bridge Program transforms the lives of its students in meaningful ways, helps build workforce skills for Japanese nationals and connects U.S. servicemembers and Japanese nationals in communities where the program operates.
“UMGC has global in our name. This program has shown that we embrace that commitment,” he said.
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