EDU~ EDGE
Facing a worsening labour shortage triggered by the pandemic Japan is taking action. This includes a pledge to make 400,000 places available to international students by 2033, increasing funding for an elite group of universities and making it easier for foreigners to live and work in Japan. The hope is that this will strengthen Japan’s position in an increasingly competitive global higher education market which has close to 3 million students.
Among various ides mooted, encouraging international students to study and settle down in Japan long term is the simplest solution says Hiroshi Ota, a researcher who studies student mobility at Hitotsubashi University.Higher education has not been immune from the problems affecting Japan’s workforce. The number of students opting to do a PhD has dropped by 20% over the past 10 years.
The root cause of this complex problem originating in Japan’s preference of membership-based employment, where everyone is hired under the same conditions with emphasis on group harmony and loyalty to the company, rather than job-based employment which focuses on skills and knowledge.
Japanese universities have started offering more English classes and also encourage students and staff to converse in the language. More Japanese universities now offer courses fully taught in English and the government is ‘not only supporting the study, but also the job search, job placement.
