Tokyo keen on overseas university branch campuses for Japan

The Japanese government is encouraging universities to open overseas campuses, with plans to support institutions that do so.

Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) wants its higher education sector – including national, public and private institutions – to take their offerings abroad, Japanese media reported.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo expects universities to expand into lower-income countries, for instance in the Global South. MEXT has allegedly requested ¥1.5 billion (£8 million) for 2024 to help institutions with expenses, including rental fees for campuses, facility maintenance and personnel.

The news comes as Japanese universities brace for the effects of demographic decline, with universities expected to lose 140,000 students by mid-century, according to figures released by MEXT in July.

But the enterprise might prove difficult for Japanese universities, few of which currently have foreign campuses or even much in the way of infrastructure for international students domestically, scholars said.

“Establishing an overseas branch campus is a big challenge for national universities in Japan, which do not enrol international students for commercial purposes,” said Akiyoshi Yonezawa, vice-director of the International Strategy Office at Tohoku University.

This spring, Tsukuba University said it would open a branch in Malaysia – the first announcement of such a venture in years by a Japanese university. The move could be seen as a “national act” of knowledge diplomacy, Dr Yonezawa said.

In its database of international campuses, the US-based Cross-Border Education Research Team (C-BERT) lists six Japanese universities with international branches. Four are in China and two in the US – one of them in Hawaii, which has a large Japanese population.

“These are primarily smaller, private institutions,” said Jason Lane, who runs C-BERT and is dean of the College of Education, Health and Society at Miami University in Ohio and an expert on branch campuses.

While the development of branches has “not been a strategy for most Japanese universities”, the idea seems to have been percolating in Tokyo for some time, Professor Lane said. He noted that even before the pandemic, he had participated in a forum hosted by the Japanese government on the issue.

“I think Japanese officials see the creation of [international branches] as a next iteration of their push for greater internationalisation,” he said.

Nevertheless, Professor Lane continued, the concept was “relatively new” for institutions, which have had “historical resistance to broad-based internationalisation activities and very little cross-border education”.

If successful, though, international campuses could prove a massive advantage, providing greater opportunities for Japanese students to build their intercultural competence and also serving to “familiarise foreign students with Japanese culture and language”, as well as creating a pathway to employment for needed talent.

“These branches are perceived as a possible way to attract new workers to Japan, to aid in offsetting the implications of a rapidly ageing population and a lack of workers to support the economy,” he said.

pola.lem@timeshighereducation.com