Waseda University, one of Japan's oldest and most prestigious private institutions, has applied to the ministry of education in Tokyo for permission to open a new graduate school.

The school will offer courses on international studies and introduce what university officials say will be "innovative teaching concepts".

Located at Waseda's west Tokyo campus, it will offer practical training for the growing number of students interested in taking up careers in international business or politics.

Students enrolling for the courses will have opportunities to work as interns with Japanese companies and government offices.

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Other innovative features will include lecturers recruited directly from government and industry, and the enrolment of a large number of maturestudents returning to higher education from jobs with companies and government organisations.

Half the teaching posts will be allocated to non-Japanese lecturers so that courses can be taught in both Japanese and English. This, it is hoped, will attract many foreign students who will be able to obtain prestigious degrees without first having to master Japanese.

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The new school is expected to attract students from South Korea, Taiwan and East Asia's other increasingly prosperous countries, as well as from Europe and North America.

The school will be the university's first independent graduate school without undergraduate facilities, and will be funded from students' tuition fees and income obtained from the sale of a range of consultancy and research services.