Japan’s Council for the Creation of Future Education has released its second-stage proposal, which includes a target to increase the number of Japanese students studying abroad to 500,000 per year by the end of this decade, including the expansion of scholarships and other financial support.
J-MIRAI: Japan Mobility and Internationalisation: Re-engaging and Accelerating Initiative for future generations was released after the Council met in late April 2023, attended by Prime Minister Kishida and Minister Nagaoka (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). Experts such as Atsushi Seike, former president of Keio University, were also part of the group that compiled the second-stage proposal.
The proposal sets out a target of increasing the number of Japanese students studying abroad from the current 200,000 to 500,000 by the end of this decade. It is suggested that of this, 150,000 will be long-term students pursuing degrees and 230,000 will be short-term and medium-term students based on exchange agreements and MOUs. Also in the proposal is the government's plan to expand scholarship programmes for overseas study and encourage companies to use scholarship programmes to repay scholarship funds on behalf of their employees.
To attract high calibre students, the government plans to strengthen the recruitment of students with high grades from the early stages of their education, such as high school (ages 16-18 in Japan), and to promote the introduction of fall and year-round enrolment.
Prime Minister Kishida has instructed Minister Nagaoka and other related ministers to draw up schedules of concrete measures by summer 2023.
The Creation of Future Education, which is chaired by Prime Minister Kishida, was established in December 2021, under the Cabinet Office, to clarify, at a national level, the direction of higher education and other forms of education needed to support the development of future leaders in Japan. It also identified the need for the government to promote the diversification and flexibility of connections between education and society, so that everyone can continue to learn and re-learn throughout their lives.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented plunge in the number of Japanese students pursuing studying abroad opportunities, and the outbound numbers are yet to return to the pre-COVID levels. With the country facing a record lowest birthrate, coupled with students' financial concerns over the declining Japanese yen value and the domestic economic climate, it is expected for the central and municipal governments, the higher education and study abroad sector, schools and businesses to collaborate to achieve the ambitious goals while playing their unique roles.