Keys to the market: Japan

Japan is a traditional powerhouse among outbound student markets but those numbers have of course been in decline for some time. More recently, however, there are signs of strengthening demand for study abroad among Japanese students. The number of Japanese students going abroad to study rose in 2012 for the first time since 2004. Further, the number of Japanese high school students participating in group tours abroad also grew by 11% in 2013/14, as compared to two years earlier. And as we hear in today’s Keys to the Market feature, expanded funding support for study abroad from the Japanese government is expected to further stimulate student mobility, perhaps even to the extent of doubling outbound numbers by 2020. Hiromi Shimamura is the president of the San Diego-based agency EduAbroad, and in the following video excerpt she shares four important tips for recruiters approaching the strengthening Japanese market.