The Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has recently decided to increase the number of scholarships for Japanese students by 70%, bringing the number of scholarships up to 30,000 by 2024. This is to meet its target of doubling the number of outbound students to 500,000 by 2033 in line with wider country efforts to enlarge Japan’s pool of global human talent and improve the country’s international competitiveness.
In a 2022 survey conducted by MEXT, it was found that Japanese students were not pursuing studies abroad, even though they had the desire to, mainly because they lacked the financial means to do so. In April 2023, the government's Council for the Creation of the Future of Education recommended that the number of outbound students be raised from pre-pandemic levels of 222,000 a year to 500,000 a year by 2033. More scholarship increases could be in store with MEXT seeking to allocate 11.4 billion yen (roughly GBP 62 million) for scholarships in the 2024 budgetary request, compared to 7.1 billion yen in 2022/2023.
According to officials from MEXT, the aim is to first enhance the volume of outbound students on short and medium-length courses (namely exchange programmes) with the hope that this will generate overall momentum in studying at degree level and above at overseas higher education institutions. Stirring up the interest of students at the high school level is also seen as crucial, hence MEXT will allocate study-abroad coordinators to some selected high schools, who will be responsible for disseminating relevant study-abroad information and formulating plans.

What this means for the UK sector

Japan, like its neighbouring countries, saw the pandemic cause a significant decline in the number of outbound students. According to a survey by the Japan Student Services Organization, for instance, the number of Japanese university students studying abroad exceeded 100,000 in 2019. The number, however, plummeted to 1,487 in 2020 before recovering to 10,000 in 2021.
This is, therefore, clearly welcoming news for the UK sector as the expanded scholarship offerings are directed towards students studying at overseas higher education institutions. Exchange programmes, undergraduate and post-graduate courses are all in scope. The scale of the increase in scholarships is very substantial and will be a major enabler for many prospective students to study abroad.
The UK is well-positioned to benefit from this development, more so with recent international exchanges providing a boost to the UK’s reputation in Japan. At the signing of the Hiroshima Accord by Prime Minister Sunak and Prime Minister Kishida during the G7 Summit in May, it was affirmed that the UK and Japan are ‘the closest of partners’ and that both countries would ‘cooperate to revitalise People-to-People exchanges’. Meanwhile, in July, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee published a new report entitled “Tilting horizons: the Integrated Review and the Indo-Pacific,” which acknowledged the huge potential for growth in higher education exchanges between the UK and Japan.
To take advantage of this opportunity and the fact that outbound mobility of students from Japan is set to increase over the medium term, UK universities will need to respond quickly by enhancing marketing and recruitment activities in Japan. Making courtesy calls to MEXT officials and connecting with study-abroad coordinators at selected high schools should also be high on the priority list.

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA197N90Z10C23A4000000/ (Japanese only)
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUE2338L0T20C23A8000000/ (Japanese only)
https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kyouikumirai/kaisai.html (Japanese only)