In the aftermath of the disasters of 11 March 2011, the Japanese media carried many stories about foreigners, including overseas students, fleeing the country in droves. Given the importance placed on the internationalisation of Japanese higher education in recent years, the situation was of great concern both to universities and to the Japanese government. Immigration regulations were relaxed to make it easier for overseas students who had temporarily left to return to Japan, while funding in a special budget released after the disasters aimed to support such students.

Statistics (www.jasso.go.jp/statistics/intl_student/data11_e.html) released by the Japan Student Services Organisation (JASSO) give a more nuanced picture of the impact of the disasters. Overall foreign student numbers dropped by 2.6% in the academic year beginning April 2011. While this follows several years of growth, it is not a drastic decline.

The greatest immediate impact was a sharp fall in the number of students on short-term exchanges (www.jasso.go.jp/statistics/intl_student/data11_e.html#no4). Often, this was because home institutions refused to send students to Japan. The total number of students on such courses fell by 22.9 per cent in 2011, while the number from Korea and the US in particular, as well as from several European countries, fell by almost half. UK student numbers dropped by 21.9 per cent, close to the average.

Study abroad numbers have apparently recovered to a great extent. More serious in the longer term was the effect on those prospective students who had not yet applied to Japanese universities but were thinking of doing so. There was a fall of 24.3 per cent in students on university preparatory courses (www.jasso.go.jp/statistics/intl_student/data11_e.html)  and of 23.0 per cent at Japanese language schools (www.jasso.go.jp/statistics/intl_student/ref11_03_e.html). Clearly, this will have a knock-on effect on recruitment to universities over the next few years. The Japanese government's increased efforts to attract overseas students through the "Global 30 Plus" programme in this year's education budget, and new scholarships, may turn this around in the long term, but the March 11 disasters have clearly caused a setback to their plans.

Further discussion of these trends can be found here.