New ‘global challenges’ degree targets overseas students

Japan’s prestigious University of Tokyo has announced a new combined bachelor and masters degree programme that will prepare students for research into global challenges. By teaching in English only, it hopes to recruit up to half of the programme’s prospective students from overseas.

Japan’s first five-year integrated undergraduate and masters degree programme in the humanities and sciences, to be called the ‘College of Design’, expects to recruit students from fall 2027 under the university’s Global Studies Initiative – World-leading Innovative Graduate Study Program, part of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

The unique programme aims to foster ‘knowledge professionals’ with leadership skills who will be able to bring diverse sectors of society together to tackle the challenges of the globalised world, according to the university’s website.

It plans to recruit a maximum of 100 students with a projected half of that number from overseas.

Changes to start of the academic year

Significantly, the programme will start in the fall, aligning with universities in the United States and Europe. This represents a dramatic shift from the normal start of the academic year in April throughout Japan, which has been hard to alter in the past, despite several failed initiatives to do so.

International students enrolled for undergraduate programmes currently comprise just 2.5% of the total at the university, popularly known as Todai. The university has set a goal to increase the share to 30% at undergraduate level and 40% at graduate level by 2049 and has also said it will look into various types of entrance examinations and admissions methods to bring in students from diverse backgrounds.

Professor emeritus Takamitsu Sawa, former rector of Shiga University, a national university, views the new programme as an opportunity to raise the university’s international ranking. THE rankings positioned it at 29th in its 2024 international rankings, with international outlook, measured by the proportion of international students and staff and international research collaborations, achieving a low score of 49.7%.

“The [new] programme sets a landmark in Japanese higher education and is aimed to make Japan an internationally competitive graduate school destination, especially for aspiring Asian talent from the growing middle class in the region,” Sawa said, adding that the target of 100 students is a promising start.

“Japan’s Todai, is a leading institute with high quality research capacity that is a huge merit for students eager to invest in their careers internationally and in Japan,” he pointed out, adding: “The majority of universities in Japan produce four-year (degree) graduates who are employed in Japanese companies, a long-entrenched system.”

A major hurdle is overcoming a recent trend especially among Chinese university students graduating from Japanese universities, who comprise the highest number at almost 50% of foreign students, to return home or leave for other overseas destinations.

The Ministry of Education is currently expanding support for new programmes in universities with the aim of boosting the recruitment of overseas talent in Japan to shore up internationalisation of Japanese companies.

Multidisciplinary programme

Students of the new college of design programme will decide on their own themes within a multidisciplinary curriculum tackling global issues such as climate change and loss of biodiversity.

For example, a student researching decarbonisation will study natural sciences and also the legal and business aspects of decarbonisation with the aim of developing new strategies towards social reform.

Students will be required to spend one year of the five -year programme outside the university such as studying abroad or interning at a company. They will also work as teaching fellows and will be involved in the planning and managing of academic events in order to gain experience.

The faculty will be comprised of professors and lecturers in the university’s existing departments, and researchers and professors from private-sector companies. Profits from the university’s own endowment fund will also be allocated to invite elite researchers from abroad, according to Japanese media.

Experts view the programme as a special or elite offering, distinguishing it from mainstream Japanese universities with their conventional curricula that do not stress English language proficiency or overseas study. Postdoctoral graduates in Japan, for example, grapple with low research budgets and unstable employment within the country.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest daily newspaper, reported that the new programme aims to carry out global-level research and foster human resources against the backdrop of Japan’s dwindling population of 18-year olds. The number of Japanese students who will enter university annually between 2040 and 2050 was expected to fall by about 130,000 from 2022, according to the Ministry of Education.