Measuring the Accessibility of Study in Japan Utilizing International Admissions Procedures of English-taught Degree Programs

The “300,000 International Students Plan” called for a significant increase in the number of international students in Japan, from 140,000 to 300,000. It was announced by the Japanese government in 2008 and the Global 30 Project, implemented as part of the Plan, has triggered the growth of English-taught degree (hereafter “ETD”) programs in Japanese universities. In this paper, the application guidelines and procedures of 20 universities which offer ETD programs for undergraduate students were collected and examined. Comparative analysis revealed that the admissions quotas for those ETD programs are, in general, limited to a small number of students and that their growth does not, therefore, necessarily lead to easier access for international students. The results of the analysis also indicated that the larger the international student admissions quota for an ETD program, the higher the accessibility of international admissions procedures provided by the respective university.