A Japanese nonprofit organization that promotes education in Japan and China will establish a graduate school in Tianjin, China, for Japanese and Chinese students in September in cooperation with a Chinese state university.

The NPO it will jointly run the school with the national Tianjin university of science and technology, and admit students from Japan and China studying subjects that include business administration and environmental studies.

The NPO said 30 students per school year, half from China and the other half from Japan, will live in pairs in a dormitory. while pursuing their studies.

The school will also offer classes focusing on the history of Japan-China exchanges and comparative culture studies, and will invite guest lecturers, including Yoshiyasu Sato, a Tokyo Electric Power Co. adviser and former Japanese ambassador to China.

Akihiko Morita, head of the NPO, said, "With the establishment of the graduate school, we would like to offer a place for Japanese and Chinese youths to forge relationships of mutual trust, as relations between the two countries have deteriorated in the past 10 years."

The school will offer three-year master's degree programs in business management, information and finance, and the environment.

In the first year, students will be required to take language, Japanese studies and Chinese studies as part of the general curriculum.

Major Japanese firms have donated some 200 million yen to fund the first two years of the school's operations. Students who graduate will be given a chance to work for the firms.