Statistics and Reports 1998-99(1)

The Educational Information Service (EIS) of the Japan-U.S. Educational Commission (JUSEC) annually compiles data on Japanese students in the United States and a profile of EIS library users. Data on American students in Japan are also included to present an overview of trends in Japan-US educational exchanges.

I. Overview of Foreign Students in the U.S.

During the academic year 1998-99 the number of foreign students at US colleges and universities was 490,933, an increase of 2% over last year's figure. This figure comes after last year's increase of 5.1% in the total number of foreign students in the U.S. Foreign students account for 3.6% of all enrollments in U.S. higher education.

Asian students accounted for 56% of total foreign students in the U.S. and eight out of the top ten sending countries continue to be in Asia. This year’s growth was mostly fueled by students from India (10.8% increase), China (8.6% increase) and Brazil (15.3% increase).

Japan was finally surassed by China as the top sending country, although, significantly, Japan remains the top sending country for undergraduate, as the Chinese students are overwhelmingly at the graduate level.

Source: IIE Open Doors 1998-1999

Source: IIE Open Doors 1998-1999

II. Japanese Students in the U.S.

The following graphs illustrate the trends for the number of Japanese students since 1949 through 1996.

The drastic increase of the number of Japanese students can be seen in 1975 and 1986 due to the strong yen and internationalization. However, the rate of increase has slowed down since 1995.

Japanese Students in the U.S. 1949-1995

Japanese Students in the U.S. 1988-1998

1. Characteristics

A. Level of Study

IIE's Open Doors 1998-99 reports that the foreign students at the undergraduate level, including both associate and bachelor's degree programs, account for about half (48 %) of the entire foreign student population, while the foreign graduate students account for just over 43%. The "other" foreign students, including those enrolled in practical training, nondegree and Intensive English programs, total 8.9%.

On the other hand, the majority of Japanese students in the U.S. are in undergraduate programs (69.1%). The rate of graduate enrollments by Japanese students in the U.S. is small (18.6%) compared to the overall rate of foreign students at the U.S. graduate level.

The number of Japanese students fell slightly at all levels of study to make up the total decrease of 1.4%.

Source: IIE Open Doors 1998-1999

B. Japanese Student Enrollment by Institutional Type

Although China has become the number one sending country in terms of total students, Japan remains the number one sending country in the world at the undergraduate and master's level.

C. Gender

Past IIE statistics have shown the gap between male and female representation in the foreign student body steadily narrowing. In 1969 about one fourth of foreign students were women and the number has steadily risen until 1990-91 when the number of Japanese female students enrolled in US higher education surpassed that of male students for the first time in history.

IIE reports that overall the gender balance of international students in the US is 58.1% male to 41.9% female. In contrast the Japanese ratio has been sliding towards greater and greater percentage of female students. In its advising programs JUSEC tends to see approximately 60-65% female participation against 35-40%male.

As of 1997-98 the ratio of Japanese women to Japanese men studying in the U.S. shifted to 55.5% female and 45.5% male.

D. Fields of Study

IIE reports that business and management continues to be the most popular field of study among international students. 100,395 students making up over 20% of the total foreign student population are studying some aspect of business and management. The second most popular field is engineering, with 71,623 students or just under15%.

Japanese students mirror this trend in the business field, but according to the most recent statistics available, far fewer Japanese (3.2%) take up engineering than the overall percentage of 15.5%. Japanese students are strongly represented in the fields of Fine & Applied Arts (11.9%) and Social Sciences (14.8%).

Source: IIE Open Doors 1996-1997

These are IIE classifications defined by them as follows:

Business & Management includes general business/management, business & office, marketing & distribution, consumer, personal and miscellaneous services.

Social Science includes general social sciences, psychology, public affairs, area and ethnic studies, protective services, parks and recreation.

Fine and Applied Arts include visual and performing arts, architecture and environmental design and industrial arts.

Humanities include letters, foreign languages, theology and philosophy and religion.

The areas of business and social science continue to be popular among the Japanese because of the quality, flexibility and variety of programs that US institutions offer. Engineering programs were one of the most popular in the 1960's and the 1970's, but there is a decreased interest in these areas in Japan. One factor for this decrease may be that the master's degrees and doctorates in these fields became more easily obtainable in Japanese universities compared to the social sciences and the humanities where a Ph.D. is offered only after an individual is well established in the profession.

Recent JUSEC group advising sessions have been distinguished by the increasing number of graduate students interested in either economics or international development on the one hand, and by the extreme variety of majors and fields chosen by both graduate and undergraduates on the other, such that with the exception of business and management, and the recent enthusiasm for international development, there are no clearly discernible trends in the field of study for Japanese students.

E. Funding

The funding source for most foreign students is primarily personal and family funds, and Japanese students are no exception. A large percentage of Japanese enrolled in business programs used to be company-sponsored, however, with the collapse of the "bubble economy" in 1992, many of these companies reduced the number of sponsorship or in some cases suspended their programs entirely. A survey of EIS users indicates that 74% of that subsection of Japanese students will study entirely on personal and family funds.

F. Intensive English Programs

IIE statistics show that the number of foreign students in Intensive English Programs fell by 18.6% n 1998/99 due to the economic downturn in Asia. One result of this downturn is that Japan reclaimed the top sending spot from Korea which suffered a decline of 54.7% in the number of students sent. Although Japanese numbers also went into a slight decline of 6%, Japanese students still accounted for 25.7% of the total.

As the region continues to recover economically, enrollments from Korea, Taiwan and Thailand will probably rise once again. Japan has been the most stable sending country in the region, and has not experienced the huge fluctuations of the other countries.

Contribution of Top Five Sending Countries to IEP Programs 1997-99

G. Visa issuance

There are three types of visas under which students go to the U.S. for study and research: the F-1 student visa, the M-1 vocational student visa and the J-1 exchange visitor visa. JUSEC has obtained the numbers for the issuance of the three types of visas for the past 7 years as shown below.

There had been five American consulate generals in Japan, which issued F-1/J-1/M-1 visas until January, 1996. Those visas are now issued only in Tokyo Osaka, and Naha. Visa related inquiries are directed either to the Japanese equivalent of a 900 number with a recorded message or to an automated fax answering system. Procedural information and advice is also available on a walk-in basis at the embassy from 8:30 to noon any workday, although Thursday are busy and best avoided according to the embassy.

H. TOEFL

Since 1981, the number of TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) examination takers in Japan has dramatically increased. There was a slight decline in 1992-93 and another decrease in 1997-98 from the previous year.

ETS and its partner company, Sylvan Prometric, are planning to introduce the Computer Adaptive TOEFL Test to Japan in October of 2000. Japan is one of the last places to receive the Computer Adaptive TOEFL because the enormous volume of test-takers in Japan has caused ETS to wait until all the problems with the new system are resolved before deploying it in Japan.

The number of TOEFL examinees in Japan has declined slightly for the past two years from a high of 129,690 in 1996-97 to the figure of 119,573 in 1998-99.

I. Recent trends in Japan

1. Economy

The Japanese economy is showing signs of an upturn recently. However, overall it remains sluggish. This continued relative weakness of the Japanese economy is expected to have several effects on the study abroad situation in Japan.

On the one hand, the economic difficulties will only increase the demand for American education. The difficulty that graduates, particularly female graduates, have in securing employment, the loss of faith in traditional Japanese corporations following bankruptcies and downsizing, the breakdown of the lifetime employment system, the pressures on Japan to open its markets to multi-national corporations resulting in more employment opportunities outside the traditional Japanese companies, and the strong reputation of American higher education, all contribute to a continued flow of students from Japan to the U.S.

At the same time the yen remains strong against the dollar (about \105/$1 as of this writing) which makes the cost of a U.S. education more attractive financially.

2. Demographics

The number of Japanese 18 year olds has dropped over 20% since the peak of 2 million in 1992. It will drop another 20% by the year 2020. Demographics are putting pressure on all levels of the Japanese higher education system. As competitive universities strive to keep their student numbers up, the schools at the bottom are under severe pressure.

At the same time, as the recruitment picture becomes more competitive among Japanese institutions, there is a trend towards offering more opportunities to study abroad, including in the U.S., in order to attract students.

3. Increased Competition from Other English-Speaking Countries

As the United States Government pulls out of overseas educational advising, the British Council, the embassies of Australia, New Zealand and Canada are increasingly aggressive in their drive to recruit the Japanese student.

At the same time, the severe economic crisis in much of Asia, has focused intensive recruiting efforts on Korea, Taiwan and Japan. American schools may not realize the degree of competition being offered by the other English-speaking countries.

4. Corporate Attitudes towards graduates of foreign programs

Traditionally all new employees enter the company as a group on April 1st each year after their graduation in March. In some organizations, they are even addressed as “the class of 19XX” referring to the year the group joined the organization. In the past, companies officially began recruiting college seniors as of July 1st in accord with a “gentlemen’s agreement,” but this agreement is no longer in effect, and companies may now begin recruiting when they wish. New hires still go through a training period during the first few months of employment and usually get promoted annually until their retirement at age 55 or 60.

The problem for U.S. educated Japanese graduates is that by the time they return to Japan in May or June, all positions are already filled and companies are starting to prepare to recruit a new group of fresh graduates for the following year. So, positions are not available to them until the following spring.

However, Japanese businesses now need employees with experience and specialized skills in such fields as languages and information technology. They also have to have flexibility in order to survive in fiercer global competitions. Major corporations have recently announced that they will create another hiring period in September to offer job opportunities to those who graduate from foreign programs. Their attitudes towards foreign program graduates have clearly shifted from one that is “they disturb our company culture” to “they have something special to offer.”

At the same time, the current recession has made it more difficult for all graduates to secure a position, and graduates of foreign programs are seeking employment in foreign firms that do business in Japan or abroad.

5. The Ministry of Education of Japan

In 1992, the Ministry of Education began an "Education Reform" drive, relaxing some regulations which include among other things such items as only allowing the transfer of 30 credits among Japanese programs as well as from vocational colleges and foreign programs, and adopting an American self-study system. Another recent reform will allow 17 year old students to take college level classes for the first time. Previously, only students 18 years and older were eligible for college. The Ministry is also encouraging universities to strengthen graduate programs and to cooperate with private sector in various aspects of higher education. Traditionally Japanese institutions, particularly national and public universities have believed that education and business should not mix.

2. Distribution by Region and State

Most of the foreign student population is generally distributed in the Northeast, Midwest, South and Pacific regions of the United States. In the case of Japanese students, one third are enrolled in the Pacific area schools, while the rest follow the general foreign student distribution.

A. Ten States with Largest Number of Japanese Students

California has been by far the most popular state, attracting 19% of total Japanese students.

B. Ten Colleges and Universities with Largest Japanese Enrollments

Despite the changes in rank, the numbers of Japanese students in the above schools have generally grown. University of Hawaii at Manoa has dropped out of the top ten. Seattle Central Community College has now made the list for several years running. There is no data reported for Santa Monica CC this year.

C. Undergraduate and Graduate programs with Largest Japanese Enrollments

The ranking of top ten schools in 1997-98 shifts depending on the level of programs. Listed below are the top ten schools of undergraduate and graduate enrollments of Japanese students.

III. U.S. Students in Japan

A. Number of U.S. Students

In 1999 there were 55,755 foreign students enrolled in Japanese universities, graduate schools, junior colleges and other special schools, according to the Ministry of Education. This is an 8.1% increase from the previous year’s number (51,298). The Ministry of Education has largely abandoned its previous goal of 100,000 foreign students. Reasons given by the Ministry of Education for this include the high cost of living in Japan and the difficulty foreign students experience in adapting to Japanese institutions. Ninety percent of the foreign students were from Asian countries, with China sending 46.5% of total foreign students in Japan. The following shows the top ten sending countries for the past five years:

(* means not in top ten for that year) Source: Ministry of Education

Students from the United States comprised just under 2% of the total in 1999. While it is a small number, the U.S. is the only non-Asian country among the top ten sending countries. Although the number of foreign students in Japan has dropped down, the Short Term Student Exchange Promotion Program by Japan’s Ministry of Education is expected to increase the numbers of American students in Japan in the future. In fact there was a 13% rise in the number of U.S. American students in Japan from 1998 to 1999. The following shows a historical change in the numbers of U.S. students in Japan:

Source: Ministry of Education

B. JET Programme

While those exchange student numbers are small, the number of young Americans who experience Japan through the JET Programme (the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme) which began in 1987 cannot be ignored. While JET participants come from 11 countries, about 50% of them are from the U.S. The following shows American and total participant numbers:

C. Where Do US Students Go?

According to IIE, 113,959 American students studied abroad during the 1997-98 academic year, for an increase of 14.6%. Europe has been by far the most favored destination for them attracting 63.7%, while only 6% studied in Asia. Although the numbers IIE shows coming to Japan are an increase over the previous year, Japan fell from 9th to 10th place - switching places with Ireland.

The top host countries of American students are:

IIE reported that six of the top 12 receiving countries were in Western Europe and they hosted over 61% of all American students studying overseas.

In the case of Japan, a combination of factors including the strong yen, differences in culture, and the difficulty in learning the Japanese language (due to its totally different writing system) help to explain the great disparity in student numbers despite the close economic ties between Japan and the United States. Please note that there is a discrepancy of the numbers of American students in Japan reported between IIE and Ministry of Education (see p. 12).

Given the spontaneous nature of U.S. students choices of majors and study interests, it is difficult to predict how the trend will shift, even though efforts are being made on both sides of the Pacific at the government level to overcome structural difficulties discouraging American students from coming to Japan.