The Japanese government aims to enhance the international competitiveness of its higher education system. Universities, junior colleges, and other professional schools are expected to be able to accept more international students starting next fiscal year.
However, the topic of international students is becoming an increasingly contentious issue in Japan.
Some of Japan’s non-competitive, for-profit universities secure tuition fees and receive substantial government subsidies by accepting under-proficient international students up to their maximum capacity. In one case, more than 1,600 international students attending Tokyo University of Social Welfare went “missing.” Dozens of these students were found to be residing illegally after their student visas expired, prompting investigations by both the Immigration Services Agency and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
The government’s plan to increase the number of international students may work effectively for highly competitive, elite universities, but it is unlikely to yield positive results for the university system as a whole. Furthermore, as few international students are willing to undertake the challenge of learning the difficult Japanese language, most elite universities are establishing “degree programs taught in English.” This will likely increase the psychological distance between these institutions and the general Japanese public. These policies are often driven by the goal of boosting universities’ positions in world rankings such as QS and THE.
In my personal view, increasing the government’s research budget would be far more effective than simply increasing the number of international students. When Japan’s research capabilities were world-class between 1980 and 2000, was it because the country had a large number of international students? Of course not. Sometimes, the call for “diversity” is used as a pretext for budget cuts.
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Just last month, a change was made to limit living expense support for doctoral students to those with Japanese nationality, sparking considerable controversy within the academic community. The Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation: SPRING, which provides up to 2.9 million JPY annually to doctoral students, previously had no nationality requirement. As a result, 30 percent of the recipients were Chinese students, with another 10 percent being other international students, and 60 percent Japanese—a distribution that raised national security concerns and prompted lawmakers to push for a policy change.
In STEM fields, some researchers oppose the nationality restriction, arguing that they “will no longer be able to secure a labor force for their labs.” In the humanities, some view it as a matter of discrimination. But researchers in support of the restriction argue that limiting doctoral support to citizens is standard international practice and that the previous system was unusual. Still, from the perspective of securing a lab workforce, they also advocate for expanding existing financial support frameworks that are specifically for international students.
In Japan’s July House of Councillors election, “Japan First” parties made significant gains, reflecting growing unease over the role of international students in higher education. The topic has become central to political and academic debates in Japan. As the U.S.—especially under the Trump administration—grapples with similar concerns, Japan is watching closely. The outcomes of American higher ed policy could offer lessons or warnings as Japan navigates its own path.
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Image: “IMG_3465” by yoon junho on Flickr
