Producing Well-Rounded and Open-Minded Graduates

In addition to a relatively low amount of international workers in comparison to other countries, Japan is facing a significant demographic shift characterized by both an aging population and a declining population. This is expected to result in a labor shortage of about 11 million people by the year 2040. To combat this, the government would like to reach 400,000 international university students by the year 2033. What role can Japanese universities play in addressing Japan’s challenges, including the need to globalize and the labor shortage?

As you mentioned, the population is getting older as the childbirth rates are getting lower and lower. Ten years ago, there were 1,000,000 births, but last year it was only 700,000. This means that many Japanese universities, particularly private ones, are facing to decrease in the number of applicants. Therefore, the universities are making an effort to recruit good students as many as possible. Now many universities are required to demonstrate their value and their attractive features for their applicants. In order to play a role for globalization and the labor shortage in Japan, the universities need to change to deal with this challenging trend. Not only the education should be designed for globalized curriculum contents but also universities need to offer a globalized environment to students. Under the declining trend of Japanese younger population, as we know, one solution is recruiting the foreign people for the labor shortage. I think, the universities are responsible for foreign students trying to enter Japanese society with sufficient ability as a workforce. 

All universities need to demonstrate their value and their attractive features to recruit. Our university, in particular, is looking to recruit foreign students to come here and study. A majority of these foreign students come from Southeast and East Asia, with a large number of Chinese and Vietnamese attending our courses. The idea we have is to tailor the education experience for their foreign students to allow them to fit into Japanese society after graduation. This is quite tricky, considering the language barrier. There is also a barrier in terms of culture. With the number of Japanese students decreasing every year, from the perspective of globalization, there is an urgent need for Japanese students who are attending university to communicate with foreign students and get accustomed to dealing with non-Japanese people. We promote diversity and cultural understanding, and that can only come about with continuous and face-to-face communication in their college life. I believe this is the most important not only for foreign students but also for Japanese students.

Despite being the world’s fourth largest economy, Japan currently has a relatively low percentage of international students in its higher education system, standing at just 5% as opposed to 20% in the United Kingdom and 30% in Australia. What key changes do you think Japanese universities need to make in order to attract more foreign students and faculty members?

I think that the key is the education through English language. As we know, English is a common communication language. Education through English would be needed to globalize Japanese higher education system.

At our university, there is only one course that is provided in English to all subjects, so a relatively high language barrier exists for those non-English speaking international applicants. There is also an issue with the calendar system. In Western countries, the school year starts in September, but in Japan, the school year starts in April. This difference can become an obstacle for students looking to enroll. It also prevents some Japanese students from going abroad directly after their graduation. The other problem for Japanese students, in general, is a poor English communication ability.  This may become another obstacle in taking the courses offered by foreign faculty. But I am expecting that younger students will be better than previous generations. Although Japanese education is a high level of standard, English is not a major language used in education.  This may be a reason that it would not be attractive for the foreign students and faculty in higher education.

Main Campus

One of the criticisms that Japanese universities have suffered from is the perception that it is difficult for international students to secure employment post-graduation. These concerns are fueled by the perceived lack of university support in navigating Japan’s complex job market and the relatively low number of foreign workers in Japanese companies. That trend has been changing in recent years, and the number of foreign graduates being hired by Japanese companies has doubled over the last five years. Additionally, your university offers career support for your students through your four-year MGO Career Program. How does this program provide career support for students? What other frameworks do you provide to help bridge the gap between school and employment, specifically for international students?

The MGO program stands for Meikai Growth and Opportunity program. This program is established as a career program for foreign students consisting of three components. The first component is Japanese language education, which is a basis of the program. The second component is referred to as Career Education. This boils down to how students can adapt to Japanese companies. The third component revolves around internships. We are sending foreign students to local related companies on internships. The MGO program is supported by the Japanese government.

The toughest part of this program is the Japanese language education. As you might know, Japanese companies require certification in order to be recruited, and a majority requires N1 certification, the highest level of Japanese language ability. Additionally, to prepare the students, we run through a lot of the cultural differences in Japanese workplaces. Understanding Japanese culture would be other key factor to be recruited by Japanese industries for foreign students.

Students in a language classroom environment

How many of your international graduates go on to work in Japanese companies?

Our university would be ranked highly in terms of students staying in Japan and working for Japanese companies with an employment rate among job seekers of 91.9%.

Your Global Management Major is a unique program designed to develop next generation leaders in the hospitality and tourism industries. With Japan experiencing a significant rise in inbound tourism, this program equips students with essential skills including communication through international liberal studies, leadership with management expertise, in-depth knowledge of hospitality and tourism, and a global hospitality mindset. How does this major uniquely prepare students to capitalize on Japan’s growing inbound tourism?

Global Management offers students a very unique education experience. Since the program is taught in English, foreign students can apply, particularly those who can speak English. This is also ideal for Japanese students who want to work abroad in English-speaking countries. Through this program, the students can learn tourism industry management and related subjects under an English language environment. This gives students problem-solving skills and a global viewpoint. I am expecting the students to utilize their experience to grow further the tourism business. Unfortunately, however, the number of applicants is much lower than that of other hospitality programs, and I believe this is because of the English requirement. In order to increase the number of applicants, we are considering the idea of introducing online lectures so that students can study no matter where they are.

If we look at Japan’s tourism, it is reaching record numbers in 2024. How important is it to maintain the Japanese culture of omotenashi and teach it to the world as Japan welcomes so many visitors here?

If we look at the most basic translation of omotenashi, in English it simply means hospitality. I believe omotenashi comes from thinking always of others. This right here is one of the key words of our university and something fundamental for Japanese people in general. This mindset has been adopted and adjusted in numerous Asian and Southeast Asian countries. The omotenashi mindset is a basis of Japanese style tourism. We should keep this mind in tourism and other areas.

Originally established as a dental college in 1970, Meikai University was built on a founding spirit of sociality, rationality, and creativity. Over the past 54 years, your university has grown into a distinguished institution with two campuses. Can you speak about how your university has evolved over time and what are some of the core values that remain today?

In 1970, our institution was founded by Dr. Keisaburo Miyata as a dental school in the name of Josai Dental University. Because of a lack of dentists during that era, Japanese society needed more dentists to treat patients. In 1988 our dental school expanded with the foreign languages and the economics departments. These humanities departments were founded in our new campus located in Urayasu where we are in today and the university name was changed to Meikai University. The decision to expand beyond dental education was made in order to better serve and develop Japanese society as a whole. From here we expanded further with our Department of Real Estate Science which has been the only one in Japan In 2005, the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management was founded which we have mentioned today is an area we believe is vital to the growth of Japan.  The latest development was our dental hygiene program in the School of Health Sciences critical to the oral health of the Japanese public. I think each expansion goes to demonstrate the values our schools bring to society.

In terms of our values, our core mission is to always put the students first. Our university cherishes some values such as respecting each individual, and pioneering a challenging spirit, being curious and inquiring about all aspects of life and challenging themselves and others through significant actions. Among these, hospitality and globalization are at the center of all of these values. Our education is based on the values of our university, and they are at the core of our goals as a university.

Your Urayasu campus almost serves as an international hub, with approximately over the 500 international students across various programs, including undergraduate, graduate studies, specialized Japanese training courses, and special auditing opportunities (Total number of international students in the past five years:3,300). The university is committed to providing comprehensive support to international students, offering Japanese language classes, and fostering an inclusive environment that enables students to pursue their studies with confidence and peace of mind. What advantages do international students gain by studying at Meikai University? What are you doing to attract more international students to your campus?

Obviously, the first aspect is that they can gain knowledge of the subject that they have elected to study. We also encourage international students to gain some sort of Japanese language certification and to adopt Japanese culture and life experience.  Another activity involves sending students on fieldwork assignments. Examples include sending students to Japanese elementary schools to talk with Japanese children. We want them to learn about the atmosphere and culture of Japan. This has benefits both ways, as ordinary Japanese people get the chance to talk to foreigners. 

You mentioned collaborating with the local community. Do you have any interesting partnerships with local businesses that students can benefit from?

For Japanese students, yes, there are many partnerships with local businesses and city government. One of interesting partnerships is a local agriculture union as well as major companies. Our students help growth and harvesting works at local fruit farmers and experiencing selling procedures. They could learn about a series of agricultural business through the collaborative works. Apprenticeships at Chinese companies located in Japan are also available to Chinese students as well.

Are you interested in collaborating with any bussinesses overseas?

If we have the chance, we are very interested in that.

Hospitality seems like it works. Are you interested in working with any of the large hotel groups that are present in Japan?

Yes, of course. The large hotel groups provide the opportunity for internship programs.

The internship program at a large hotel group can grow the awareness and attitude of students as a member of society.

Your Faculty of Foreign Studies offers the Department of English and American Studies, which includes two majors, The Global Studies major and The English and American Language major. The department aims to equip students with essential knowledge as well as English language skills, preparing them to thrive in global companies both in Japan and abroad. How does this faculty prepare students for English speaking roles in foreign environments?

The foreign language school you mentioned has just two majors. Essentially the school specializes in the English language. There are also elements of the two majors that cover basic business management. The number of Global Studies majors has more students because it is a more general course and after graduation, they have a greater choice of companies to work for.  English speaking ability is piled up by frequent opportunity of  English conversation environment. Of course, a number of native English speaking faculty members is an important issue. In addition to these faculty members, our school has facilitated Multilingual and Communication Center where the native speaking faculty members (English, Chinese, Japanese) are always stationed in each language facility to communicate anytime with students coming in. This facility is enhancing the opportunity to come into contact with active foreign languages for the students.

Your Faculty and Department of Dentistry is a highly advanced program offering six years of comprehensive training with a focus on the needs of an aging society. The faculty also offers an extensive overseas training program, with approximately one-in-four students participating in hands-on experience abroad in countries such as Italy, China, and the United States. What distinctive features set your Faculty of Dentistry apart from other dental schools? What do you believe are the benefits of providing your dentistry students with international training opportunities?

Every year, we send students abroad to foreign countries. This is our distinctive feature among Japanese dental schools. Dentistry is a very small, niche field, and while students learn about dental technologies, they don’t learn about what is happening on a global scale. Things are very different in the United States compared to Japan. Understanding these differences is very important. There are mutual exchanges going on too, and I think these mutual exchanges are crucial to understand different cultures better and to expand their vision in dentistry.

Here in Japan, there is a very good social insurance system in place, but in America, it is predominantly private health care. Some will say that this causes more innovation in America since there is a lot more money at stake. However, this might cause a problem for Japanese students because they are not in sync with world trends. How do you ensure that what you teach in the classroom matches with the latest developments in dentistry worldwide?

For undergraduate education, essentially there are no big differences between the US and Japan in terms of treatment theory. In general, Japanese dental education curriculums are focusing on satisfying the requirements for the national dental examination, rather than acquisition of new technologies.  After graduation, things are very different, particularly with equipment. Our dental school is offering the dentists the continuing dental education programs which provide the latest knowledge and technologies in clinical dentistry. Also, we do encourage our students to go abroad to see world trend in dentistry, and this is especially true if they have shown an interest in pursuing graduate school. Our dental school is supporting the graduate students and young faculty for going oversea.

Digital experiences and the integration of advanced technologies such as generative AI and large language models (LLM) have significantly impacted education worldwide. In addition, the Japanese government has been recommending that the humanities departments in universities also teach the basics of technology use, such as AI, in addition to their normal humanities curriculum. This is part of a larger transition towards a more technologically integrated society. How does evolving technology affect the education you offer, and how are you preparing students for a technologically integrated society?

AI raises some very big and complicated issue in education. Of course, I understand the need for AI usage, and we do teach our students how to use AI. I think the key word there is “how” since that is the point of AI that is debated the most. We are struggling since many students are now abusing AI to write their reports, but I think this is a worldwide problem now.  I think it is important to get in early and teach first year students how to use these AI platforms in the correct way. It is very effective, but we have to think about the best way to use it without compromising our own integrity. For the first-year students, we are now drafting a project-based learning (PBL) approach to AI tuition which will be incorporated in the next year.

Your university has developed an extensive global network through partnerships with 42 universities across 13 countries and regions, including prestigious universities such as Peking University in China, the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and Tufts University in the United States. These collaborations provide a diverse array of international exchange opportunities for students. What role do partnerships and memorandums of understanding (MOU) play in your business model, and which countries do you see as having the most opportunities for expanding your university partnership network?

Those MOUs are mainly focused on various academic exchanges. These types of exchanges increase our research capabilities, so realistically, we don’t particularly care about which countries. Rather, our only concern is about creating opportunities for our students. We are particular about actually carrying out MOUs as well, and we aren’t looking for just paper agreements without actual exchanges. Once we make an agreement, we follow through. I think the crux of these agreements is built on mutual trust.

Have you developed in your mind the number of international students you would like to have attending Meikai University by 2030?

There isn’t necessarily a limit on the numbers we would like to achieve. It really depends on the classes and the enrollment numbers. Our concern is the academic quality of international students to be enrolled.  Right now our international students are mostly Chinese and Southeast Asian, but should any Europeans, Africans or Americans want to enroll, we would welcome them with open arms. Any country is okay for us. I think international students strengthen the growth of our school and the society in future.

Imagine that we came back on the very last day of your presidency and had this interview all over again. What goals or dreams do you hope to achieve by the time we come back for that new interview?

I only took on the presidential role in 2023, so right now I’m only in my second year. There is a long path for me to still travel. I would say that my goals all revolve around making my university more global for the future. Conditions are very competitive in Japan, so in order to survive, we need to strive to become a more attractive university with excellent education quality for prospective students from all over the world.

For more information, visit their website at: https://www.meikai.ac.jp/english/