Japan’s governments have until the end of the fiscal year to provide a description of a new certification program that will take the place of an initiative that encourages internationalisation of Japanese educational institutions.
Funding has been provided to select universities that are “driving internationalisation” in the nation by the Top Global Universities Project, which was first introduced in 2014.
The project is scheduled to conclude at the end of the 2024 fiscal year. According to a Ministry of Education source, final talks are currently underway to develop a new, all-inclusive globalisation certification system.
The proposal, which was first mentioned in the Council of the Creation of Future Education’s second documentation, would establish an official system for certifying Japanese universities that take the lead in internationalisation. It would be an official continuation of the Top Global Universities Project.
The document indicates that the efforts would “spread the efforts to other universities” and would carry on promoting the outcomes of the previous project.
It’s unclear what the project will be named and which universities will be the first to receive certifications because the fiscal year ends in April.
The universities that received funding from the SGU, as it is known in official documents, including the University of Tokyo, Keio University, and Hokkaido University, were already doing well in the previous project.
Universities that “promote inter-university collaboration” and student exchange with pertinent nations and regions, particularly the US, which is specifically mentioned in the document, would be certified under the incoming project.
In addition, the institutions would need to “increase the international validity” of the degrees and microcredentials they offer, as well as promote “hybrid international exchange,” which would include COIL. A budget announcement for universities to expand overseas campuses is also anticipated at the end of the 2024 fiscal year.