Japan’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MEXT) recently invited 10 Malaysian university students to visit the country, to conduct a study and report back on reparations following last year’s earthquake and nuclear crisis – a move to build confidence and bring tourists back to the island.
It reflected the government’s determination to continue pushing its traditionally inward-looking population to engage with the wider world, just 15 months after one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the country’s history. The involvement of students was also pertinent, given the government has realised that the inflow and outflow of students will be vital to the country’s economic survival.
“Japan is trying to develop the quality and improve the international competitiveness of its education system,” says head of Research and Advisory Services at World Education Services, Dr Rahul Choudaha.
“It’s less driven by educational forces than economic and demographic concerns though. The economy is stagnant, so they think: Is there a way to upstart and improve momentum? And then the question is whether their talent can help achieve that and fill the demographic gap.”
And the government’s got its work cut out. The latest QS rankings show seven Japanese universities rank in the top 20 out of 300 in the region but in terms of numbers, other markets are leaving it behind – notably China which now welcomes 233,000 international students to its universities to Japan’s 133,000.
Similarly, Japan’s student output is waning in comparison to other powerhouses in the region. Japan, once the leading source for international students at US universities, has seen decline over the past 10 years.
In 2011 numbers were down by 14% to 21,290 students according to the Open Doors Report. Meanwhile China surged with a 23% increase, making it the leading nationality with 157, 558 students. South Korea came third with 73,351 students behind India’s 103,895.
China now welcomes 233,000 international students to its universities to Japan’s 133,000
The report credits the effects of a “rapidly ageing Japanese population, the global economy and the recruiting cycle of Japanese companies” for the fall in Japanese outbound mobility.
Global 30 flop
The most recent and largest fiscal commitment to internationalisation of Japanese education came in 2008, with the launch of the Global 30 programme. The programme was intended to use US$38 million to sponsor courses taught in English for international students at 30 universities in the country. The goal was to boost the number of international students in Japan to 300,000 by 2020.
However, funding cuts have resulted in just 13 universities participating and the latest figures show just 21,429 international students are studying in English at the participating universities.
International students at Tsukuba University
Dr Louis Irving, G30 assistant professor of biology at Tsukuba University, says the rigorous entrance requirements prohibited some universities from receiving support through Global 30. He also mentions that adapting to a non-Japanese system in order to accommodate international students is challenging.
The programme was intended to use US$38 million to sponsor courses taught in English
“The needs of international students are significantly different from their Japanese counterparts,” he said. “Almost every aspect of the university has to be re-examined in light of the new demands which they are expected to fulfil.”
Associate director for admissions at Nagoya University, Harriet Ng, says that Nagoya hopes to expand its offering to international students as Global 30 progresses.
“Funding from the government is good but the university wanted to centralise the students we brought in so it is very selective,” she said. “I think the potential students are much bigger than the intake, so I’m hoping in the future we can accept students interested in say the humanities too.” [more>>]
Perhaps in an effort to rectify the less than stellar results of the Global 30 programme, the government launched the Global 30+ project. The five-year subsidised programme will allow selected universities to accept Japanese students into their English programmes – a step towards boosting outbound numbers.
“If a Japanese student is to attend a biology lecture in the US or the UK, they will need to be prepared for that before they go. That’s a major goal of the G30+ program,” said Irving.
MEXT says that as a condition for the subsidy, the universities are expected to carry on with the G30 and G30+ programmes after funding ends. “The government expects these G30 and G30+ universities to function as initial models for internationalisation for non-selected universities to follow.”
The Council set a goal to have 110,000 individuals under 18 with overseas experience by 2020
Figures show that the highest percentage of international students in Japan come from China and neighbouring Asian countries, and institutions within them continue to improve in quality. It’s no surprise then that the government launched the Campus Asia programme in 2010, to promote trilateral academic collaboration between universities in the three countries.
“As student mobility has become wider globally, Japan has been highly placing value on quality assurance,” says Kuniaki Sato, deputy director of the Office for International Planning, Higher Education Bureau, at MEXT. “Campus Asia exactly fits into such an aim of the government.”
Essentially, says Ng, “Global 30 is a pulling force to pull the students into the country while Campus Asia works to promote exchanges of staff, students, knowledge and expertise in research in order to facilitate higher education cooperation.”
“Japan believes itself to have been internationalised through trade, but that was a one-way street”
The government is also keen to encourage internationalisation in the population at an earlier age. The Council on Promotion of Human Resource for Globalization Development this year set a goal to have 110,000 individuals under 18 with overseas experience by 2020. According to the government, this would be approximately 10% of that age group.
Their strategy includes promoting high school study abroad programmes, facilitating more flexible school calendars, informing parents on overseas locations and ensuring them that their children will still be able to graduate high school in three years if they study abroad.
A US institution in Japan
While it is too early to tell if the government’s subsidised programmes will be a long-term success, US university Temple runs a Japan campus (TUJ) that has proved a stalwart in internationalisation for the past 30 years.
Because of Japan’s booming economy in the 1980s US universities rushed to establish branch campuses in the country, but TUJ has been the only one to survive. “They believed in the value of having branch campuses in Asia”, said Masami Nakagawa, a spokesperson for TUJ. “Maybe right now they would have gone to China.”
The majority of international students at Japanese universities are from the surrounding region thanks to Japanese educational seminars like this in Indonesia
Since opening, TUJ’s curriculum has expanded beyond undergraduate programmes to include a law school, adult continuing education programmes and the Institute for Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS) which hosts a series of presentations, discussions and social events throughout the year in English.
In 2005, TUJ became the first institution to be designated by MEXT as a “Foreign University, Japan Campus”. While not giving TUJ nonprofit or university status, the designation allowed it to sponsor visas for non-Japanese students who could apply directly for admission to TUJ.
TUJ Dean, Dr Bruce Stronach, says historically Japan has resisted opening up to foreigners. “Japan believes itself to have been internationalised through trade, but that was a one-way street which sent exports from Japan to the world but blocked off much return traffic.”
He reiterates the country’s need to bring in foreign skills in order to support the future economy. “TUJ is an ‘outsider within’ and one of its missions is to support Japan’s global competitiveness by creating Japanese and non-Japanese human resources that help Japan succeed globally, but also enrich Japan domestically.”
