Case study of The Organization for Technical Skill Assessment of Foreign Workers in Food Industry

Our organization mainly carries out two projects. The first is the implementation of Specified Skilled Worker tests for foreigners in the food and beverage manufacturing industry and the restaurant industry. The second is the implementation of skill evaluation tests for foreign technical interns in the vegetable vegetable manufacturing industry.
Through the implementation of these projects, we aim to improve the skills of foreign Specified Skilled Worker workers and foreign technical intern trainees, and through those skills, develop the food industry and food culture both domestically and internationally.

We signed our first contract with Prometric in August 2019, but we did not know about it before.
The Immigration Control Act was revised in 2018, and Specified Skilled Worker System was established, which came into effect in April 2019, and immediately after that April, the domestic exam for the restaurant industry was conducted through PBT. Initially, our organization had planned to conduct overseas examinations ourselves, but we heard that Prometric was contracted to conduct some Specified Skilled Worker examinations for other industries through CBT (Computer Based Testing). After checking various details, I decided to ask Prometric.

That's what we thought when we were preparing for implementation in 2018. When I listen to other test organizations that conduct PBT overseas, I hear that they have to collect the test fees and pay taxes themselves, and they also have to convert the local currency into Japanese yen, which seems to be difficult. That's what I thought.
In that case, I thought it would be better to use CBT instead of PBT and request Prometric to handle all of that work all at once.

To be implemented from 2023 onwards, the tender was held in 2022 using a comprehensive evaluation method of price and quality such as service, and as a result, Prometric was selected. A major point in the service content is tax compliance in each country. It would be helpful if I could leave this to you. I also think they gave us good suggestions on how to handle various reservation formats.

I don't think there was anything special about it, but our current counterparts at Prometric understand our intentions smoothly, and even if there is a problem, they respond with the attitude of trying to solve it, which is helpful. I am. I think it's due to personnel issues at Prometric, but if possible, I'd like to not change my counterpart.

First of all, regarding test quality analysis, our organization was established in January 2019, and we did not even understand the concept of test quality analysis in the first place, but in the United States, there is such an academic field and there is no academic accumulation. When I was introduced to it, I felt I had to do it, so I decided to incorporate it.
The analysis results obtained from the test quality analysis service were shared with the organizations in charge of preparing test question plans and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which ultimately authorizes the test questions, and were used as reference for improving the questions. .

We requested the test time analysis service because we needed numerical analysis results to see what kind of impact it would have on Candidate if the test time were changed when considering the validity of the test time.
As a result of the simulation, we were able to estimate that changes within a certain range would not have a major impact on the pass rate. We were not able to do that kind of analysis on our own, so this was a great help.

Speaking of overseas exams, I think the number of countries where exams will be distributed will increase in the future. Regarding overseas examinations, the addition of implementing countries is subject to negotiations between governments, and our organization is in a position to receive implementation preparation instructions from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which is in charge. Although the number of countries implementing our initiative will not increase, the Japanese food industry, like other industries, has a labor shortage and has no choice but to rely on foreigners, and the Japanese economic world is changing. Although the influence of the country is decreasing relatively, thankfully it is still chosen by Asian countries as one of the countries they want to work in, so with this background, the number of countries that will conduct the exam will gradually increase. I think it will continue to expand. We would like to firmly fulfill our social role in securing human resources for the food industry.

It is a test after all, so it must be done strictly. Monitoring and preventing fraudulent activity is an issue that we, as a testing organization, must continue to address. Prometric monitors and prevents fraud in a variety of ways, and we also share specific examples of fraud that we have taken strict action against. Based on that, I would like to work with you to consider what further measures can be taken to prevent this outbreak.

Recently, the number of Candidate has been increasing considerably not only in Japan but also overseas. As more countries are added to the exam list, the number will increase further, so I would like to request appropriate measures such as expanding the capacity of Test Center to avoid increasing social stress in those countries.

*The published content is as of the time of the interview in December 2023.