KOTA BARU, MALAYSIA - Japan is willing to take in more Malaysian students.

This move can help Malaysia realise its human capital demands, said Japanese Ambassador Masahiko Horie after visiting the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan temporary campus here.

Present were UMK board chairman Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman and vice-chancellor Prof Dr Zaini Mohamed.

It is the ambassador's first official visit to the east coast state.

Masahiko said although Kelantan was governed by an Opposition party the quest for knowledge to gain skills in a globalised age was not affected.

He is confident that the Federal Government will not neglect the educational needs of the people in the state.

For the last four years, the Japanese Government has allocated national scholarships for deserving Malaysians to study at its institutions of higher learning.

And for the past 25 years, Japan has accepted about 25,000 Malaysians into their institutions.

Each year since 2004, the country sent about 150 students to study in Malaysia.

Masahiko also spoke on the possibility of increasing student exchange programmes between the two countries.