Japan market report: A dual focus on attracting international students and sending more Japanese students abroad

This year has witnessed a trend in some Western economies towards deglobalisation. Pressured by a conviction among large voting blocs that unemployment, inflation, and healthcare and housing crises are linked to rising levels of immigration, many governments are tightening their borders and enacting new trade protections.

The trend is especially visible in new migrant policies in Australia, Canada, and the UK; in far-right gains in France; and in the victory of Donald Trump in the November 2024 US presidential election.

International educators in those countries are naturally affected given their vulnerability to immigration policy changes. As Simon Marginson, professor of higher education at the University of Oxford has observed: “The higher education sector [in the UK] is caught trying to be global while national politics push hard in the other direction.”

By contrast, national politics are not an issue for institutions in key Asian countries such as Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. These countries are both:

• Important student sending markets;
• Increasingly attractive destinations for international students.

Demographics are a main reason that the governments of Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea are embracing more international linkages. In Taiwan, the share of the population aged 65 and above will increase to 35% by 2050, and it will rise to 37% and 38% in Japan and South Korea, respectively. Of the three, Japan's population is currently the oldest: 29% of Japanese are currently over the age of 65.

This – along with a need to strengthen geopolitical partnerships in the face of Chinese and Russian alignment – is behind the urgency of the three destinations to increase the internationalisation of their higher education sectors. Today, we’ll focus on Japan as both a sending and receiving market.

Major goals

In Japan, official goals are to increase inbound mobility, outbound mobility, and partnerships with foreign institutions.

Specifically, according to the J-MIRAI strategy (Japan Mobility and Internationalisation: Re-engaging and Accelerating Initiative for future generations) created by the government-backed Council for the Creation of Future Education in 2023, Japan’s goals for 2033 are to:

• Send 500,000 Japanese students abroad (150,000 for degrees, 230,000 for shorter programmes, and 110,000 for high school via overseas study tours);
• Welcome 400,000 international students;
• Double English-only undergraduate programmes, and nearly double English-only graduate programmes;
• Nearly double the number of joint degree programmes and exchange programmes;
• More than double the number of dual degree programmes;
• Triple the number of Japanese high schools where students can take multiple subjects in English;
• More than triple the number of international students in Japanese high schools;
• Increase the post-graduation employment rate of international students in Japan by 25%.

Those are ambitious goals, but the fact that former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida himself chaired the Council for the Creation of Future Education is an indication of how seriously the government is approaching the targets.

The role of language supports

In 2023, there were about 280,000 international students in Japan. The 2023 tally represents a 21% increase over 2022, and growth was driven mostly by students coming to the country to study Japanese.

Japan needs more international degree students to work in Japan after graduating – ideally with a good grasp of both English and Japanese. We can assume that there is a significant effort afoot to encourage language students to progress to university studies in the country. A survey conducted in 2019 by the Institute for International Business Communication found that 40% of Japanese companies now insist on English-language skills in their hiring.

J-MIRAI includes a focus on attaching Japanese language and cultural supports to degree programmes to encourage university students to complement their English-language skills with proficiency in Japanese. This dovetails with the government’s aim to ease the integration of international graduates into the domestic labour force.

In addition, J-MIRAI’s ambitious target of tripling international students in elementary and high schools is being supported by improved Japanese language supports at those levels (see graphic below).

The need to diversify

China is by far the largest market for Japanese universities (115,495 students in 2023, +11% year-on-year), but Chinese students have always been more likely to return home after study abroad than students from other countries. This tendency does not align with Japan’s goal of encouraging top international graduates to stay and contribute to the Japanese economy. Chinese students compose 60% of the student population in Japanese graduate and postgraduate programmes, and it would be healthy for Japan's workforce needs to increase recruitment from other countries where students are more eager to stay after finishing their advanced degrees.

Other major senders for Japan are Nepal (37,875), Vietnam (36,340), South Korea (14,945), and Myanmar (7,775). Nepali numbers were up by 56%, Vietnamese numbers fell by 3%, and South Korean numbers grew by by 9% in 2023 versus 2022. The number of students going to Japan from Myanmar skyrocketed by a massive 104% over that one year alone.

Professor Yonezawa, vice-director, International Strategy Office at Tohoku University, told QS that Australia, South Asia, and Africa are new target regions for Japanese universities.

The aim for 500,000 Japanese students to study abroad

In 2023, there were about 200,000 Japanese students abroad, with about 60,000 of that total pursuing degree programmes. The aim is to more than double total outbound by 2033. “The growth and success of young people, who are the bearers of the future, through studying abroad is the key to transforming society,” former Prime Minister Kishida said at the launch of J-MIRAI in April 2023.

The 500,000 target will be challenging to achieve, as there are several factors that make Japanese students hesitant to study abroad.

As reported in University World News, students worry about job prospects upon their return to Japan because the Japanese academic calendar is not aligned with the calendar in top Western destinations. Japan's academic year ends in March, while in the West, the last month is July. What’s more, Japanese students tend to begin their job hunting in their third year of a four-year degree programme at a Japanese university. Students returning from study abroad therefore lose precious months to compete for jobs with their peers who have studied in Japan.

“Not being able to compete in the job market is cited by Japanese students if they study abroad,” said Hiroshi Ota, professor and director of the Global Education Programme at Hitotsubashi University to University World News.

Japanese students are also known to be quite content to study at home, especially since the employment rate for graduates from Japanese universities is very high. A survey conducted in 2019 by Japan’s Cabinet Office in 2019 with 13–29-year-olds in seven countries found that in only one country, more than half of respondents said they have “no intention of ever studying abroad.” That country was Japan.

Financial and language barriers are other reasons that Japanese students shy away from study abroad. In 2024, the EF English-language Proficiency Index ranked Japan 92nd of 116 countries where English is not the native language – the lowest ranking ever for Japan. The EF score for Japanese aged 18 to 25 was especially low compared with the overall average, and analysts believe this may be due to a decrease in motivation to communicate and learn English during the COVID-19 pandemic. Japan's borders were closed for longer than almost any other country during the pandemic.

Western institutions will face fierce competition in Japan from Asian destinations, as Japanese are increasingly favouring intra-regional study abroad for cultural and financial reasons – and to be closer to home. Malaysia, China, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, and UAE are alternative destinations that are becoming more popular.

Ms Ota told University World News:

“Most Japanese students cannot afford the high tuition fees that now reach almost US$50,000 annually to obtain a degree at American universities. Cheaper Asian destinations for non-degree study are growing attractive for Japanese students, avoiding high costs for studying in English-speaking countries.”

Skills gaps in the Japanese economy

Foreign educators recruiting in Japan should know that:

• Demand for information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI) skills is skyrocketing. According to the 2023 Economist Impact Study, “65% of employees in Japan choose digital skills as a top skill to acquire … advanced digital skills such as cybersecurity (53.8%), IT support (52.3%), and data analysis and visualisation (50.8%) are also considered must-haves.” The prediction is that by 2030, Japan “will be short of 450,000 IT professionals.”

• Employers told The Economist that one of “the major hindrances to digital transformation is the shortage of high-calibre IT talent with bilingual capabilities (fluency in both Japanese and English).”

• Alternative credentials and modes of study are on the rise: the same study found that “60% of employees report that employers are shifting to new hiring practices such as skills-based hiring while 54% agree that their employers value online certificates.”

• There is an opportunity to recruit older Japanese for short upskilling courses, as more and more older Japanese are staying in the labour force.

Japan is serious about sustainability goals, especially as they relate to its energy and transportation industries. Horton International reports that “investments in transportation networks, digital infrastructure and sustainable energy projects are expected to create numerous job opportunities and support economic growth.” Horton International adds: “Japan displays a higher-than-average share of green-driven occupations and a lower-than-average share of greenhouse gas (GHG)-intensive occupations … this suggests potentially high demand for skills relevant to green-driven occupations and lower costs of job replacement from GHG-intensive occupations.”

Ensuring that programmes are tightly connected to global and Japan-specific labour market needs will be crucial for educators recruiting in Japan, where a government push to send students abroad is complicated by Japanese families’ hesitation to do so.

For additional background, please see:

• Join the ICEF Japan-Korea Roadshow. An efficient and cost-effective way for international educators to connect with pre-screened, local student recruitment agents from two important outbound markets.
• “Survey of Japanese agents indicates significant recovery in outbound student numbers for 2023”