Opening Japan Up to the World

Opening Japan Up to the World

WITH A GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS AT HAND, IT IS CLEAR THAT MAJOR CHANGE IS NEEDED

among leading nations. For Japan, this comes at a time when two prime ministers have left office

in barely 2 years, and support for the new prime minister, Taro Aso, is weak less than 2 months

after he took up office. Perhaps the public, sensing the need for change, is pessimistic about the

possibilities, given that Japan has been so resistant to change over the past decade.

Clearly, today’s global competition demands entrepreneurs with distinct out-of-the-box

talents. The flattening global market is also driving the need for diversity and collaboration,

essential for the kind of open innovation that creates new markets. Like other nations, Japan’s

investments in science, technology, and innovation are crucial to its economic growth. Universities

play a key role in nurturing future talents and leaders in every sector of society.

Therefore, government support for academic science is vitally important. However, in Japan,

such investment by the government often fails to nurture the potential of

these individuals. This is partly due to an insular, hierarchical, and

male-dominated system that still prevails in every sector of Japanese

society, including academic institutions.

Meanwhile, many universities in other countries have become more

open to the world, thereby becoming cores of the global community.

They are creating programs that attract students from around the world

and address global challenges in areas such as health, energy, climate

change, and the environment. The international student-faculty-alumni

network that these efforts forge is a powerful tool that is crucial for any

nation’s future success. In contrast, only a few universities in Japan are

truly international: At Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, 50% of the

undergraduate students are international and half of the courses are given

in English; Akita International University, a typical small liberal arts college,

has 40% international students, with most courses taught in English.

Leading universities outside of Japan aim to attract not only the world’s most promising

students but also the best faculty and academic leadership, be it dean, provost, or president.

Some invite outstanding women to lead them: the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and Harvard University, to name a few. Among

approximately 80 national universities in Japan, only one has a woman at the top (Ochanomizu

University, a women’s university). Among Japan’s private universities and colleges, the

situation is not much different. Inviting someone from the outside to a top academic position

is still exceptional, as it is in Japan’s business sector.

But change is imminent. In 2009, the Japanese government will launch new programs in science

and technology that join universities and research institutes in Japan with those in Africa.

The program moves beyond simply inviting graduate students from Africa to Japan; it will promote

joint bilateral research projects involving faculty and students.

Also, the Ministry of Education has submitted a budget beginning in fiscal year 2009 for an

unusually ambitious program that increases opportunities for students to go abroad for a year as

part of an exchange. The number of Japanese students who go abroad, even to universities in the

United States, has fallen rapidly over the past few years (from 46,000 to 35,000). Reasons for

this decline are unclear, but it comes at a time when meeting the future challenges in any country

requires a circulation of human capital and resources that supports a vibrant international

exchange of ideas and talents. The newly proposed exchange programs target 30 leading universities

and aim to have at least 10% of all students study abroad within the next 5 years. The

budget also requires that these universities offer many courses in English, which will hopefully

attract non-Japanese students and faculty.

It is critical to approve this 2009 budget request because it will ultimately keep Japan economically

robust and competitive. Otherwise, I fear that my country will become closed off

from an increasingly interconnected global community, turning Japan back 150 years in its history

to a time before Commodore Matthew Perry opened Japan to the world.

– Kiyoshi Kurokawa