Impact of Japanese international tuition fee hike debated

Expected tuition fee increases by Japanese universities could discourage international applicants from fast-growing markets such as Vietnam and Nepal, a year after the government set out plans to double international student enrolments.

Japan was set to lift the cap on tuition fees for foreign students at the country’s 86 national universities, and it is thought that most will increase their prices and that private universities may follow suit, Nikkei reported.

The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, announced in March last year the goal of increasing foreign enrolments to 400,000 by 2033. There were about 231,000 international students in the country in 2022, almost half of whom came from China.

Currently, both domestic and international students pay a maximum of ¥642,960 (£3,408) a year. Thomas Brotherhood, an assistant professor at Rikkyo University, said students from price-sensitive countries such as Vietnam and Nepal could be deterred by “large and sudden changes in price”.

These two countries are the second and third top source markets for Japanese universities and colleges, respectively, and numbers are growing fast year-on-year, with Vietnamese students increasing by 25 per cent in 2022 and Nepalese by 29 per cent.

However, Christopher Haswell, an associate professor at Kyushu University, pointed out that many will still see the country as a relatively affordable place to study, compared with leading destinations such as the UK and the US.

And if private universities also raise their prices, the extra fee income could help to reduce the financial pressures increasingly felt by these institutions as Japan’s population continues to decline, according to Dr Haswell.

“There’s just not enough demand, so raising…the money that is required to be at the university makes them cost-efficient,” said Dr Haswell.

The government has previously called on universities to boost investment in services for international students, including language training. If national universities use the extra cash from higher tuition fees to do so, this could improve both the student experience and post-study outcomes, Dr Brotherhood said.

He added that language classes “will need to be supplemented with targeted job-hunting support to offer value” to students from those “booming” markets, who are often already studying in Japanese.

The government has also eased graduate visa rules, allowing international students who graduate from vocational schools and colleges to look for jobs outside their area of study. It is the latest in a string of policies aimed at making it easier for international students to work in the country.

“It is no coincidence that the simplification of post-study work transition…has coincided with the largest boom of inbound mobility in Japan’s history,” said Dr Brotherhood.

But the government will have to do more to tackle barriers such as language, a hard-to-navigate recruitment process and low wages if it wants to encourage more overseas graduates to remain and work in Japan, according to Dr Brotherhood.

“Even if new graduates secure a job, they may find themselves working longer hours for less than they could in their home countries,” he said.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com