Japan: Decline of Students Studying in the U.S. and Overseas · Global Voices
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There was a recent online discussion at the National Bureau of Asian Research's Japan-US Discussion Forum about the marked decline of Japanese students studying overseas at U.S. universities [en]. Undergraduate enrollment has dropped more than 50% since 2000, while India and China has dramatically increased enrollment. South Korea's aggregate international enrollment to U.S. colleges used to be about equal to Japan in 2000, but now it is more than 2.5 times the amount (75 to 29 thousand). Only one Japanese undergraduate entered Harvard University the fall of 2009.
Japan still has a lot of students studying overseas relative to other countries [ja], but its number are decreasing and students permanently staying in their host countries remain non-existant [ja].
The following is the number of Japanese college students studying overseas for each country (source: tomorrow, Inc. [ja]). For comparison, I have also added the number of Japanese people living overseas (“expats”) (source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs [ja]), the number of Japanese visiting overseas (source: Ministry of Justice [ja]), Japanese high schoolers studying abroad for longer than three months (source: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [ja]) and Japanese college students in a study abroad program (source: Japan Student Services Organization [ja]).
Despite the increasing number of people studying abroad via study abroad programs [ja], the overall rate of Japanese college students studying abroad seems to be decreasing across the board — even accounting for Japan's declining birthrate [en].
What is the cause of this remarkable decline? The following are a few perspectives.
Here is Toshio Onda, a journalist from Disco Corporation suggests [ja] that growing up in comfortable Japan gives a sense of security that make people risk-averse. Employers and educational institutions also do not take active steps to foster “hunger mentality.”:
世界における日本の位置づけなど日本にいては分からない。年々国際的地位が低下し、存在感を無くしているというのに、未だ経済大国の残像にとらわれ、変身をためらい、内にこもっている。若者に訴えたい。世界の優秀な人たちが集まる場所に出かけ、異なる文化を持つ人々と出会い、価値観をぶつけ合う中で、自分の価値観を磨いていくことがどれだけ大切なことか。目を開いて世界に挑み、世界に学ぶ貪欲さを持って欲しい。といっても若者の内向き志向を変えるのも難題だ。リスクを取って荒波にもまれた日本人留学生を企業がもっと積極採用するとか、ポスドクの欧米企業・大学への派遣を増やすなど政府も大学、企業も世界に羽ばたく人材育成に本腰を入れる時である。
An Assistant Professor of Statistics at a U.S. University, blogger Willy says the decline [ja] can be attributed to the lowered adoration of the outside world and the weakening of the economy relative to other countries. But more importantly, its simply not pragmatic to get an education abroad if the goal is to maximize domestic job prospects:
日本社会は博士号に対する評価が非常に低い。
理学系や社会科学系の博士など取ってこようものなら、
まともな就職すらままならない。
新卒一括採用主義（しかも原則２５歳まで）という
日本の特殊な雇用慣行が原因であろう。
上位３カ国の学生が、アメリカで就職しても良いし、
母国に帰ればかなり良い待遇の職を選べるのに対し、
日本人留学生は（一部の社会科学系を除き）コネがないと
日本での就職が厳しい、というなんとも不利な立場に追い込まれる。
この点に関しては、他国の留学生にはなかなか理解してもらえない。
また、米国での就職にしても、小学校から英語で勉強している
インド人等に比べた場合の語学力でのハンディはいかんともし難い。
こんな理不尽な状況では、留学生が増えないのは仕方ないだろう。
In Japanese society, the value of degrees in higher education is extremely low. If one has a doctorate in science, you can't expect employment at a respectable job. Japan's idiosyncratic Simultaneous Recruiting of New Graduates [en] (basically, people under 25) is probably a large factor.
Students from the top 3 exporters (India, China, Korea) have the luxury to get a job in the U.S. or return to their home country where a good job awaits. Japanese students who have studied abroad (with the exception of a portion of social science-types) in general have trouble obtaining a domestic job without personal connections. This situation is very difficult to understand for international students from other countries. The Japanese also have a disadvantage in getting jobs in the U.S., as other countries like India start their English training very early. Overall, it is an unreasonable situation for Japanese people and I don't wonder why more people don't choose this road.
Hideaki Morishima of IBM Japan notes [ja] that in the U.S., there is a [ja] high proportion of Japanese students enrolled in English learning programs (Intensive English Program), a high ratio of undergraduates to graduate students (high attendance in 2-year schools in particular) and the most popular subjects tend to be business, followed by the social sciences. He opines that companies, who are partially responsible for sending the youth abroad for an international education, have more leeway in breaking through the current gridlock instead of any legislation that may stall in Government:
日本の留学生は、もともと企業派遣か２年制短期大学への語学留学みたいなところが中心であるようだが、 その中でも「ビジネススクールなどでは、企業派遣の低下が近年著しい」というのが定説のようである。実際、私の日本人同級生でも、私を含めて9人中8人が自費であった。企業派遣が減った理由としては、最近の経済情勢に加えて、「留学帰りの社員はすぐ辞めて転職するから留学させない」という事情があるよう だ。そのため、学位を取れる2年コースではなく、わざと1年くらいに短縮した企業派遣や1-2週間のセミナーなら認めるという企業などもあるらしい。
企業側の人事部の都合もわかるが、これではあまりに了見が狭いという気もする。
そこで、提案だが、「個人での自費留学に関する費用を、必要経費として税金還付の控除対象とする」という施策はいかがだろう？
Many Japanese students that study overseas are sent by businesses or they study at 2 year university programs to learn the English language [ja]. In the former case, there is a remarkable decline in the number of students sent by companies. In reality, 8 out of 9 of my Japanese colleagues (including me) paid their own expenses to study abroad. The reason businesses are sending less people is partially because of the declining economy, but also because employees have a tendency to switch jobs upon their return. To prevent outsourcing of its workforce, many businesses limit the study abroad to one year so people don't receive a degree or 1-2 week seminars.
I can understand the human resource perspective on the corporate end, but I still have to call out its narrow mindedness.
Therefore, I have a proposal to the government. How about making self-payed overseas studying a tax deduction?
A student in Los Angeles, blogger Tatsuki thinks [ja] the lack of English skills by the Japanese combined with the inane financial investment one has to make to feel comfortable with English skills, prevent many from taking the significant step of going abroad. This is especially the case when lifestyle in Japan and its universities are of good quality relative to the other Asian countries:
日本で勉強してこなかったからか、語学学校＋ＥＳＬ地獄に飲み込まれ、お金と時間を無駄にする人が多い。基本的に留学生はいい鴨だから、英語力がなければ 語学学校とコミカレに高額な学費を払い続けることになる。私もカウンセラーにＥＳＬを取ることを強要されたが、強く拒否し、結局取らなかった。私にとって ＥＳＬは無意味だと思ったし、私の進路くらい私が決めたかった。噂によると語学学校とＥＳＬに日本人が沢山いて、そこから抜け出すことの出来る人間が極端 に少ないらしい。私が知っている限り、ＥＳＬには６つ以上段階がある。最初のプレースメントテストで良い点数を取らないと、ＥＳＬの底辺から始める事にな り、卒業までにとてつもない時間と費用が掛かる。語学学校も含めれば、７年近くアメリカに滞在している日本人もいるらしい。最低限の英語が出来ないと、留学してもお金と時間の無駄になるので、個人的に留学は考え直した方がいいと思う。
Overall, it seems like there is less merit for Japanese students to study abroad relative to other countries; also at least in the U.S., there is the additional barrier of language skills.