Japan to accept 300,000 students from abroad

Tuesday 29th July, 11:53 AM JST

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Latest 15 of 24 Total Comments Show All

nutsagain at 03:21 PM JST - 29th July

Backlash? There won't be any backlash a all. Faced with declining enrollments, declining population, declining handouts from the Ministry: universities in Japan have their backs to the wall and desperate for students. They'll take anyone and from anywhere, anytime.
yurichan at 03:32 PM JST - 29th July

i want to do a master in Japan. help me Japanese goverment. onegai I have been busy with this for a while. So when is the next dealine for applications?
papasmurfinjapan at 04:15 PM JST - 29th July

They'll take anyone and from anywhere, anytime.

This is true of lower-tier universities, which are in plentiful supply here. But only "about" 30 universities are being selected to presumably take a large proportion of the foreigners. That's an extra 10,000 students - all foreigners - per school.

For a university on the ropes it would be a Godsend, but for a "prestigious" private university or (I use the term loosly) national university that is having no trouble filling its enrollment quotas with local students, I think the university heads may consider their "prestige" tarnished if they were forced to accept such an influx of foreigners.

That is why I am interested to see what universities they are going to choose. Dodgy private ones on the verge of bankrupcy? Elite private ones? National ones?

Will they be willing to give up their prestige for money? Who knows...
outofmydepth at 04:20 PM JST - 29th July

its nice that they upped the number but do the students really want to come here. japan, a place where some towns have outlawed foreign students, they cant rent an apartment, get a part-time job for real wages, or even basically take part in japanese society? they would be better off going to the eu or usa. at least they would be accepted a little more.
rajakumar at 04:36 PM JST - 29th July

Good, news for foreign students and hope they can transfer japan know how, back home.
apecNetworks at 05:08 PM JST - 29th July

Since I had an inside view of being a foreign student in Japan and was involved in some administrative tasks, there are some problems Monbusho should address. Where ever the university is located, a strong, comprehensive orientation program at the start would be helpful. It would resolve many, many problems studying in Japan. Second, Monbusho should send several "test" Japanese students who speaks a foreign language to go to the local town next to University, acting as a foreign student to see what local customs would perturb a foreign student. And, in reverse, what customs of the foreign student perturbs the local town. If a foreign student can at least feel some comfort nearby, the student can probably put up w/ everything else. Flexibility and follow thru on easing a foreign student's path would go a loooooooong way in establishing a friend of Japan.

That was sooooooo looooooong ago.
thepro at 05:24 PM JST - 29th July

180,000 more anime fans
gifu at 05:49 PM JST - 29th July

The reaction from my Japanese university colleagues? I bet if the foreigners are blond and speak English, they will be welcome. But only small numbers of Westerners want to study in Japan. If the foreign students are Chinese or other Asians (= the ones who really do want to come to Japan in large numbers), many Japanese profs won't want to cooperate. One of the symptoms of a university going belly up here is, sadly, the percentage of Chinese students it has. This is especially sad because those low-level universities attract only low-level Japanese students, but often a higher level of Chinese students, so the Chinese students raise the academic level. But it's not perceived that way.
larguero at 06:50 PM JST - 29th July

The idea is excellent. But that should be complemented with other measures. Basically, the system is for people to get their degrees and start working at a god company. If foreigners are won't be later accepted at a company, then the advantages almost dissapear. THe second is regarding using that knowledge for Japanese economy. THe third is boosting entrepreneurship among graduates. There should be plans to integrate the foreigners and make them feel home (this is very difficult considering Japan's background). But it is important for those people to know that in 5,10,20 years they will be able to live in that place. If not, they just won't invest here. Maybe giving permanent resident status to those that graduate here.
bamboohat at 07:56 PM JST - 29th July

sorry Japan, but this is the beginning of the end for the old ways, although its good you are seeing the writing on the wall:

Import People or Perish.

Plain and simple.
proxy at 11:24 PM JST - 29th July

Good, Japan needs to import brains to keep its competative advantage.
usaexpat at 11:54 PM JST - 29th July

Nothing wrong with this, foreign students keep US universities competitive in the world and will do the same for Japan.
taikan at 10:58 AM JST - 30th July

If the goal of this program is simply to increase the revenues of the 30 universities that are selected, then the measures referred to in the article should be of some assistance in achieving that goal. However, if the goal of the program is to "import brains" to give Japan a competitive advantage, there will have to be many other changes made, as well.
speakout at 09:21 AM JST - 1st August

Japan has a real problem!!! First there is a problem with too many foreigners in the country, and now that Japan is in a population crisis, Japan has decided to accept more foreign students. This is a real joke. Japan should concentrate on teaching their children some common sense and educating their youth in the correct way. Today, is seems as if the youth of Japan are like people living in a land like Disneyland, but at a bigger scale. There is not much common sense in the Japanese society of today and there are so many stupid uneducated children that don’t even try to improve themselves in any way. The education system in Japan is to memorize things and not learn to things which create a society of many incompetent no common sense people. This is a sad true fact that exists in Japan today that many people are trying to hide and not bring into the open to face the true reality of being an unprogressive society in today’s standards.
OneForAll at 09:06 PM JST - 11th February

OHENE

As anywhere there are the good and the bad. If you can study in English and get yourself here you will be well received. Many good people here of all nationalities. Welcome! And God-speed.