Prospect and Challenges of Japanese Universities in a Globalized World
by Ginandjar Kartasasmita

First of all I would like to express my deepest appreciation for having been invited to Hiroshima and join University of Hiroshima as a member of its Administrative Council. It is real honor for me.

It is an irony, that although I had been living in Japan for almost 6 years, and having been visiting Japan almost every year, sometime more than once a year in the past 30 years and having been travelling to many cities and regions in Japan, this is the first time that I have visited Hiroshima. I am so embarrassed to have said that, so it is really a pleasure for me to be able to come to Hiroshima after all these years of being a friend of Japan in Indonesia.

On a historical note, 70 years ago Hiroshima City and its citizens experienced a calamity on an unprecedented scale, the atomic bomb, a calamity that ended another calamity, the Second War World, which had brought so much suffering to mankind. The horrific experience taught us some historical lessons, of why we should forever avoid war as a way to resolve conflict, and those weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons, and others such as chemical and biological weapons should never be used in any conflict for whatever reason.
Of course these are not the reasons why I am now standing here before you. I was asked to give my view of the role or the place of Japanese universities in the world.

I am not quite sure how to address the theme given to me. One might say that Japanese should know more the answer than a foreigner.  Although I have had some experience of participating in higher education in foreign countries, as a student, a fellow, a visiting scholar and professor, still I am not an expert on the subject of the international education.

But, anyway I will try to share with you some layman observation, how I see Japanese higher education and the prospects and challenges of the role Japanese Universities can play in the world.

Japanese universities today are the products of 150 (or at least 60) years of efforts to establish and run a uniquely indigenous higher education system, while incorporating certain international norms. The U.S. Occupation Forces tried vigorously to revamp and renovate Japan’s education system as a whole. However, Japanese universities managed to maintain their uniquely Japanese system of higher education that had been firmly established before the war.

Japanese universities continued to let predominantly Japanese faculty members teach and research in Japanese on virtually all subject matters using text books written and printed in Japanese.  When I was a student, and I think even until today one could not find a foreign text book in its originals language being used in the class. Most are translated into Japanese. Japanese universities continue to have a mainly Japanese student body. Most Japanese graduates cannot converse comfortably and very seldom read books in English. They are excellent graduates, expert in various fields but in very Japanese way. Most Japanese who speaks English are those who spent some years outside the country either as graduate students or working in Japanese companies overseas.

I am not saying that Japanese universities are inferior compared to other countries’. On the contrary Japanese universities are the most competitive in the world, especially the top-ranks. Graduates of Japanese universities make good doctors, engineers, economists.
And Japanese education has flourished in this environment for a long time. Important question for many scholars observing Japanese education system is whether the current structure of the Japanese higher education suited to an increasingly global world.

Let me take an example. In 1979 Ezra Vogel, a Harvard academic, wrote a book entitled “Japan as Number One: Lessons for America” in which he portrayed Japan, with its strong economy and cohesive society, as the world's most dynamic industrial nation. But, in the year 2010 Vogel saw Japan differently. He said “I felt that there are so many good things in Japan... They had a low crime rate, high educational standards for people in middle school, they had a very high company loyalty, the bureaucrats were making enormous contributions and we had a lot to learn,” Vogel said, but “Now we all have a different version.” (Quoted from Japan Times, 2010)

Indeed things have changed, in fact a lot. For a long time Japan had been number 2 strongest economy in the world. Its industries and technologies are foremost in some and even pioneers. The names like Nintendo or Walkman were known to people in all corners of the world. Toyota has excelled as number 1 car maker.

But now, since 2010 China has surpassed Japan as the number 2. Korea is catching up fast in technology and has become a very strong competitor. The name Samsung is more known globally as an electronic device brand than Japanese brands. In Indonesia, China is competing with Japan to get the contract to build a Shinkasen. Many Japanese firms who win large contracts are using Korean subcontractors such as Hyundai or Daewoo, because they perform work quality on par with Japanese contractors, but with much less cost.

We are now in the midst of major scientific progress and industrial revolution.  Scientific discoveries are being reported practically every day.  Technological breakthroughs are happening to create new industries.  Our social and economic life is now reorganized in some fundamental ways.  And our expectation for life is changing enormously.

It is getting more complicated to anticipate the future and prepare the people for it.  Universities are expected to perform all the more important roles to play in the future, to train people for the increasingly competitive and globalizing world, to contribute to scientific and technological breakthroughs and innovations, and to open up new possibilities of industries for creating jobs.

Universities themselves are in the process of major changes.    If we look at the general trend, comprehensive universities are giving way to universities with "character".  Harvard now excels in medical science, but not exactly in engineering.  MIT excels in engineering.  NTU,Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore has risen to be one of the top 100 universities over the last five years, because of its emphasis on engineering.  But the more important is the way in which all these universities are trying to encourage research and education in areas in between.  NTU now has a school of media, design and information, where students, both undergraduates and graduates, are trained in advanced information technology and humanities, especially design, film making, game, and so on.

Something similar can be observed about university admission policy.  The best universities in the US admit people in its undergraduate program, not simply because they excel in standard tests.  They admit people with something extra - for instance someone with artistic talent.  The idea that informs their policies is this: people need to be trained not only in traditional areas such as mechanical engineering, math, physics, etc., but also be broad enough to understand arts, economics, management, and other social sciences and humanities.  The reason is simple: scientific and technological breakthrough alone cannot create new industries.  You need artists to create better designs. You need management professionals to run business.  You need to have social scientists to understand the larger trends in society

Japanese national universities are known to have good science and engineering departments.  But some experts observe that Japanese universities tend not to venture out into new areas, especially in the areas bridging science and engineering on the one hand and humanities and social sciences on the other.  This has to change for universities to remain competitive.  I hope Hiroshima University will take part in this move toward global competition.

Frankly I am not sure how to respond to the question as regards what make a university world class and not merely nationally good.  I tend to think, however, that things that attract good students from all over the world matters and that students you train at your university can work anywhere they want also matter.  I tend to believe those universities which meet those conditions can be called globally competitive.

Professor Takashi Shiraishi, President of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), told me that there is no comprehensive university in Japan, which qualifies for the globally competitive and which has opted for the kind of strategy to respond to the challenges mentioned above. He cited for example University of Tokyo, his own alma mater, although in terms of global competitiveness measured by the citation index is doing exceptionally well ranked number 23 or 31 (depending on the source) in the world and number 1 in Asia, not because they have figured out any good strategy nor attracting top class students from all over the world, not because they offer a superior way of training students or encouraging their faculty to do research, but because it still manages to attract the best and brightest from among Japanese.  All the other universities are reproducing the same pattern as the University of Tokyo.  He criticized that the biggest problem with top-rank Japanese universities is that they are satisfied with the way they are and that they all look alike and behave similarly, with no department or field of research and education showing any sign of shining out of their peers.  I would say that GRIPS is exceptional, because 2/3 of its students (66.40%) and 15% of faculty came from overseas.

I understand that the Japanese Government plans to globalize Japanese higher education.  One of its flagship programs summarized up in 2014 was the Global 30 initiative to invite 300.000 foreign students to study in Japanese universities, i.e double the current numbers (135.000).  Global 30 emphasizes that there should be no initial prerequisite to master Japanese since many universities in Japan are now offering degree programs in English. By doing this, these universities are expected to solve the language obstacle which was one of the impediments inhibiting international students to study in Japan.

Japan is considered as one of the favorite places to study by international students, however, the number of foreign students stay at around 3 percent for about 13 years. In the meantime China a new comer on the international education scene has seen its foreign students increasing to 8%. China’s great success in attracting international students has come from offering full degrees in English.  It seems also that many students from Korea and Japan and other parts of Asia are studying in China, and studying in Chinese, to prepare themselves for careers that will be linked to China’s booming economy.

Indeed, 2/3 of foreign students in Japan come from Northeast Asia countries, China 51.2% and Korea 9% followed by Taiwan 3.4%, with Southeast Asia accounting for a large proportion of the remaining. Looking at the data above one can argues that Japanese universities have undergone an “Asianization” rather than “internationalization”. As cited before the obstacle to studying in Japan is the predominance of classes conducted in Japanese. This is a less intimidating hurdle for students from Northeast Asia because of language similarities as they are familiar with Kanji. Most Japanese universities enrolling foreign students are focusing on graduate and post-graduate activities, mainly in science and technology. Although from Indonesia it is more diversified; many come to Japan to study medicine, economics and public policy.

In the last ten years the number of Indonesian students in Japan is increasing at almost double rate. Most of them are privately funded and only a small portion receiving scholarships either from Indonesian or Japanese governments. This is a good sign. But I personally want to see more Indonesian students studying in Japan under enlarged scholarship programs such as reparation program that sent me to study in Japan more than half a century (55 years) ago. I spoke about it with officials from the Japanese government, including (former) Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, using the term “big bang” to describe the expansion of the number of Indonesian students studying in Japan. In Hiroshima University the numbers are already more significant, out of 1.060 international students, Indonesian comes second (81) after the Chinese (570).

Japan is a remarkable country, with friendly and gentle people, a country with long history and traditions, good food and beautiful places, very unique as east meets west harmoniously.
Studying in Japan is comparatively less expensive than in other major countries that attract foreign students.

If we look at the number of foreign student in the best known universities in the world and Japan top ranked universities, it is obvious that there is plenty of room for Japanese university to expand the number of foreign students.

Especially for Hiroshima University, where the ratio of foreign students is only 6%, much below (less than half) the other top rank Japanese universities, the prospect to attract foreign students is more compelling.

Aside from those statistics I believe strongly that Japan in itself could be more attractive for foreign students seeking superior education. After all Japanese products either agricultural or industrial, and services are recognized in the world as of the highest standard. Japanese workmanships are superior to most of other countries’, even if they produce foreign brands. All of that are the products of excellent education.

Let us take an example: the creative industry. The total amount of domestic production output connected to these industries is about 64.4 trillion yen, and the scale of employment in the industries is estimated to be about 5.9 million people, both of which exceed the figures for the automobile industry. Creative industries are significant not only for their size but also for their ripple effects on the entire economy. For example, Pokémon, which was originally launched as a video game software, developed into a major media franchise including anime, movies, and related products, achieving significant popularity not only in Japan but also abroad. And many other internationally popular games and animation figures originated in Japan.

I my view, the excellence of creative industries in Japan should be connected to human resources who are educated in the university. Japan could share its experience in developing this industry to the international students, along with its excellence in science, agriculture and technology. The conclusion is Japan has many, many good things to be shared with the international students.

• Language barriers
  – Need to adjust with the international academic language, English
• Textbook and teaching
  – More English or original textbooks
• Professors
  – Increase number of lecturers who get advance education abroad; or hire more international lecturers
• Curriculum
  – The universities need to adjust to the curriculum from top universities in the world without losing their uniqueness
• Partnerships
  – Japanese universities can forge partnership with other universities. Students can enroll in a program in a Japanese university and graduate with a degree from the host school and a course certificate from the partner.
• Entrance examination
  – Student who wishes to study in Japan should take an entrance test, while in the UK there is no such test.
  – Acceptance in UK system is based on the GPA for post-graduate students. Singapore and Malaysian universities adopted the above system for students’ acceptance.
  – Japan should consider a less cumbersome mechanism for accepting international students that are practiced by top universities.
• Innovation: is about the application of new ideas, discoveries and inventions.
  – The foundation for innovation is the steady supply of excellent ideas.
  – Ingenuity and creativity, alongside the fundamental research which underpins these ideas and combined with the constant exchange of ideas between academics and companies, governments and NGOs has been the recipe for this success.

In general, universities face two underlying forces: market and globalization. Market forces pushes many educational system in the world to embrace market, as the role of public funding is diminishing, and Japan is not an exception to this trend. Globalization influences academia in a sense that universities are obviously connected through various channels and shared values. Universities in the US and in English speaking countries such the UK, Canada and Australia, and even in non-English speaking country like China, are gaining most from this trend, and Japan needs to adjust to this trend.

To sum up, Japan’s educational globalization drive might be more successful if it started from the premise that the current system works well but that, at the same time, the globalization programs for a select number of students should be run independently from the current educational institutions in academia and government.  For instance, Japan should open up more of its excellence in advanced technology related to artistic design, to international students by offering courses or degrees in various branches related to those industries.

Lastly, I would like to re-emphasize that Japan should offer courses not only on traditional subjects, such mechanical engineering, or physics but also broad enough to cover industrial arts, social sciences and humanities. The world has become too complicated for a graduate with a narrow, specific competence, although professional capacity does require certain degree of technical knowhow.

Hiroshima, September 2, 2015
Ginandjar Kartasasmita