Toyota announced that on March 21 it established the Toyota Study Assistance Fund in conjunction with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation to provide assistance to students in mid-western China who for financial reasons would otherwise have difficulty entering university or advancing their tertiary education.

The fund will target one university in each of 20 different provincial, municipal and autonomous regions in mid-western China and will be available for 10 first-year students a year per university and consist of a yearly stipend of RMB5,000 over the course of four years.

Toyota plans to offer financial assistance to a total of 1,000 university students through the fund over a five-year period from 2006 to 2010 (200 students per year). The entire fund is valued at RMB20 million.

In the first year, a selection committee of educators and experts on poverty issues will review the economic situations of those sitting for university entrance exams who applied for a stipend between June 1 and July 15, and select a total of 200 recipients. The study assistance stipends are scheduled to be awarded to the recipients in September.

At a ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 21 to commemorate the establishment of the fund, Toyota Executive Vice President Tokuichi Uranishi noted: "Fostering human resources is extremely important for the development of a nation. Toyota is aware that as a result of economic development and reforms in the education system, there are growing opportunities for China's youth to study at the tertiary level. Toyota hopes that with the establishment of the Toyota Study Assistance Fund it will be able to help economically disadvantaged young people, and that this in turn will contribute to fostering human resources for China's future."

Toyota has for some time now been broadening the scope of its philanthropic activities throughout the world. In China, these activities include afforestation programs to combat desertification, the creation of a research center in collaboration with Tsinghua University, the Toyota Environmental Protection Aid Program for China's Youth, Toyota scholarship programs (available at 11 different Chinese universities), as well as the establishment of Toyota-sponsored lectures at Jilin University and Tianjin University.

Toyota says it aims to be a good corporate citizen and plans to continue contributing to Chinese society, through activities that focus on the themes of environmental protection, traffic safety and human resources development.

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