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The Japanese government has decided to lift restrictions on the number of foreign students at three national universities. Previously, Japanese universities could face sanctions if they exceeded established quotas for enrolling foreign students. Now, 3 leading universities — Tohoku, Tsukuba and Hiroshima — have been granted the right to increase the number of foreign students by 5%. The innovation will come into force on April 1 of this year.
The goal of the reform is to attract talented students from abroad, diversify the learning environment, and foster globally-minded specialists. However, universities must meet a number of conditions to participate in the program:
- Maintain a high percentage of student enrollment (fill the stream and groups),
- Preserve financial stability, have an internationalization strategy and effective mechanisms for supporting foreign students.
Previously, Japanese universities lagged significantly behind other developed countries in terms of the number of foreign students, but recent statistics show a significant increase in the number of foreign pupils. As of June 2025, there were already 435,000 citizens from other countries studying in Japan, exceeding the government target of 400,000 by 8 years.
But with the changing enrollment, the payment policy is also changing: national universities are now entitled to set higher tuition rates for foreign students, exceeding domestic rates by one and a half times.
