Education

Started in 1988 in the US and currently implemented on a global scale, Kid Witness News is a hands-on video education program developed by Panasonic that lends video cameras, editing decks, as well as other equipment to elementary and junior high schools for the purpose of fostering creativity, communication skills as well as teamwork through video production. In addition, the company holds annual contests and award ceremonies throughout the US and other regions in which videos submitted by students are judged on creativity, writing, videography and other criteria. At present, over 10,000 children from more than 500 schools in 20 countries around the world are participating in the program.

Aimed at bringing up the future leaders of Asia and promoting mutual friendship between their home countries and Japan, the Panasonic Scholarship program provides scholarships to students from seven countries and regions throughout Asia to pursue master's courses in Japan. The program was established in 1998 to commemorate the company's 80th anniversary and, since its incorporation, has awarded more than 240 scholarships.

To support the development of future business leaders and engineers, we established Panasonic Professorships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US) in 1975 in the fields of computer science and robotics, and at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (US) in 1991 in manufacturing and logistics. In addition, the company inaugurated Konosuke Matsushita Professorships at Harvard Business School (US) in 1981 in the area of leadership, at Stanford University (US) in 1985 in international labor economics and policy analysis, and at Keio Business School (Japan) in 1990 in business management. Furthermore, we partnered with Fudan University (China) in 1996 to institute the Panasonic Lecture Series, featuring lectures from Panasonic executives and world renowned scholars.

In the US, we are the title sponsor of The Panasonic Academic Challenge, a rigorous academic competition in which students from high schools nationwide work as a team to answer challenging questions on various subjects such as mathematics and science, competing for scholarships and other prizes. Since 1989, the company has provided a prestigious arena for over 2,000 of the nation's academically talented students.

Across the Atlantic Ocean in the UK, the Panasonic Trust, established in 1984, provides grants annually to a selected number of high caliber engineers who will enroll in Master of Science courses or other high-level educational courses. This grant program is designed to help engineers out in the workforce stay on top of new developments and technologies in the field and, at present, has awarded grants to more than 750 engineers.

In the neighboring continent of Asia, Panasonic has built 75 schools in Thailand over the course of twelve years, bringing education to over 30,000 children in the remote areas of each of the country's provinces. Although construction ended in 2003, the company continues to oversee maintenance, provide financial assistance for lunch programs, libraries and scholarships, as well as donate educational and other products such as color TVs, DVD recorders, mini-systems, flashlights and batteries, to the schools each year.