The Top Global Universities Project, which was originally launched in 2014, has been giving funding to certain universities that are “driving internationalisation” in the country.

The project is due to finish at the end of the 2024 fiscal year, and a source in the Ministry of Education has told The PIE News that discussions are entering final stages to create a new, comprehensive certification system for globalisation.

The proposal, initially mentioned in the second documentation of the Council of the Creation of Future Education, would create a system to certify Japanese institutions that lead in internationalisation, following on from the Top Global Universities Project in a more official manner.

The efforts, the document states, would continue to promote the results already seen by the previous project and “spread the efforts to other universities”.

“We are required to decide what we do about it by the end of this fiscal year – we are… in the middle of careful assessment and discussion [about the project],” the representative told The PIE.

With the fiscal year ending in April, it remains to be seen what the project will be called, and which universities will receive the first certifications.

Already excelling in the previous project were the University of Tokyo, Keio University and Hokkaido University, who were recipients of funding from the SGU, as it is referred to in government documents.

“We are required to decide what we do about it by the end of this fiscal year”

The incoming project would look to certify universities that “promote inter-university collaboration” and student exchange with relevant countries and regions – especially the US, which is specifically mentioned in the document.

Other requirements would include promoting “hybrid international exchange”, including COIL, as well as “increasing the international validity” of degrees and microcredentials available at the institutions.

At the end of the 2024 fiscal year, a budget announcement for universities to expand overseas campuses is also expected.