A blueprint outlining how to downsize Japan’s higher education sector while improving quality offers promise for the financially stricken sector, according to academics. 

���� from the Central Council for Education (CCE), an advisory council to Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, warns that tertiary provision in rural areas will suffer if changes to Japan’s higher education sector are left to “market forces”.

Instead, the plan from the council sets out how to shrink Japan’s higher education sector in a way that supports equitable access, while concurrently improving quality.

According to the report, it is “inevitable” that more institutions will go bankrupt, given Japan’s declining birth rate. 

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“Even if there is a certain amount of desire to continue education and demand for human resources in the local area, learning opportunities will be reduced or eliminated solely through the management decisions of individual higher education institutions,” the report states.

The CCE recommends providing support to universities that reduce their undergraduate intake while “shifting capacity and resources from undergraduate to graduate schools and…increasing the number of international students and working adults while maintaining quality”.

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“It is important for each higher education institution to properly recognise its own strengths and weaknesses…reaffirm its mission, and consider the appropriate size of the institution in light of the declining birthrate,” the report reads. In light of this, institutions will be expected to restructure faculties and departments in response to the “needs of the region and industry”.

It follows a recent plan by the government to incentivise private universities to merge, while the report also suggests introducing stricter criteria for the creation of new universities.

Futao Huang, a professor in Hiroshima University’s Research Institute for Higher Education, said that while reducing the number of institutions and enrolment quotas “seems inevitable”, “ensuring geographical diversity while downsizing presents significant challenges”. 

“The proposal’s emphasis on collaboration between local governments, universities, and industries could be promising if implemented with sufficient resources and long-term planning,” he continued, but this depends on ensuring a balance between “efficiency and equity”.

“Transforming some universities into regional innovation hubs or focusing on lifelong learning for local populations might offer viable alternatives to outright reductions,” he said. 

The report also discusses the financial issues facing universities across Japan, as many raise their tuition fees in light of stagnating public funding. It urges the government to try to “reduce the burden of higher education costs” while encouraging research universities to generate “new flows of funds”. It does not suggest that the government should increase subsidies to universities, but instead advocates for continued support to households struggling to afford fees. 

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Education funding has been a key issue in political debates over Japan’s 2025 budget, which appeared to be close to receiving parliamentary approval ahead of the new fiscal year in April. 

On 25 February, the ruling party – which lost its majority in October elections – conceded to demands from a key opposition party to in effect make secondary education free by expanding subsidies to all families, regardless of income. 

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According to Akiyoshi Yonezawa, professor and vice-director of the International Strategy Office at Tohoku University, this could be part of a wider trend “to shift from public support to educational institutions to public financial support that responds to the needs of individual learners”.

However, he said, by focusing on individual support rather than the system as a whole, universities will have little option other than to continue increasing tuition fees.

“The priority given to the support of individual students inevitably leads to a lower priority being given to the public support of national universities and colleges, as well as to the public support of the operating expenses of private universities and colleges,” he continued. 

The CCE report also points out the need to improve Japan’s research capabilities, both to increase universities’ financial viability and to support the country’s development as a whole. 

Specifically, the CCE emphasises the need to create an “attractive” research environment for early-career researchers, following efforts by the government to tackle declining participation in PhD programmes.

“Highly capable students are now hesitant to become doctoral students, who play a central role in creating knowledge,” the report says, adding that this is a “serious problem” for Japan’s future. 

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It also suggests improving collaboration between higher education institutions and local authorities to ensure international students are accepted in “a way that suits the needs and circumstances of the local governments”.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com