Gradual but steady changes are taking place in internships and on-the-job training programs offered by Japanese firms, with companies increasingly determined to recruit creatively minded young workers with problem-solving skills.

Some 20 students at Senshu University's Ikuta campus in Kawasaki have been working since May on helping a leading Tokyo-based dormitory operator plan student housing.

The work is one of some 20 programs adopted by the university for this year in cooperation with employers under its internship system, launched in 2006 to let students acquire problem-solving capacities. In the past, a group of students helped a maker of "natto" sticky fermented soybeans develop a popular product.