As it enters the universal stage, Japanese higher education is experiencing a series of changes. One is the replacement of academic subjects with vocational ones, another is the shift from written entrance examinations to portfolio selection, and the third is the rise of professional management instead of faculty control. These changes, accelerated by the demand for international students due to declining domestic student numbers, challenge traditional ideas about higher education.

Along with the declining number of high school students, vocationalization is a major issue in Japanese higher education. The issue of vocationalization is a hot topic globally, and the Japanese case sheds light on key themes. Students are increasingly interested in studying practical subjects that connect them directly to the labor market, rather than academic subjects that foster academic curiosity and mental discipline. Such a trend is particularly noticeable among international students in Japan, who focus on social sciences and engineering (see JASSO 2022 survey results).

Today, private universities, which are more responsive to market needs than public universities, are adding professional schools in information science, sports science, health science, food science, business management, regional development, and tourism to their undergraduate programs. Ahead of this trend, the ministry of education (MEXT) introduced “the professors of practice” in 2003, substituting work experience for academic achievement. They have been active in professional graduate schools, and are now moving into undergraduate education.

The Rise of Vocational Undergraduate Education

Japanese companies have traditionally been indifferent to undergraduate education, except in highly specialized fields. This is because corporate training used to be rigorous over the course of a long career due to the lifetime employment system. Companies screened applicants by the names of their universities, not by the subjects they studied. This was because industries changed their business according to industrial trends, and valued aptitude rather than expertise. As a result, students paid less attention to the subjects they studied, especially in the field of humanities and social sciences. The situation is now changing rapidly, as the importance of expertise in the workplace increases, and companies have fewer resources to train employees.

Since college attendance rate in Japan has already exceeded 50 percent, such vocationalization is not inexplicable. It is reasonable that private universities, which have contributed to the expansion of higher education opportunities and account for 80 percent of the country’s tertiary education, should be able to vocationalize more than public universities. According to MEXT statistics, the proportion of college graduates working as professionals was 30 percent in 1990, and 40 percent in 2023. Such figures correspond to the rise of information science, health science, and sports science. This rise may be due to the fact that private university graduates are more interested in working for industry. Vocational schools (known in Japanese as senmon gakkō) and junior colleges used to teach practical subjects and prepare students to earn national licenses. Now they are losing students to colleges and trying to fill their places with older people receiving unemployment relief from the government.

Vocationalization and University Management

Vocationalization of higher education has three consequences. One consequence is the decline of liberal arts colleges which teach few vocational skills. The institutions most affected by vocationalization are small women’s colleges, which have traditionally focused on humanities. They used to be popular when college attendance rate was low, English language acquisition was an advantage, and a college degree was seen as a certificate of cultural sophistication for marriage, but their all-female environment, small size, and academic orientation are less attractive for modern high school students. Today some of these institutions are attempting to transform themselves from liberal arts colleges to comprehensive universities that include vocational subjects, such as business administration, data science, design, architecture, and home economics. Some of them have already decided to close due to low enrollment.

Another consequence is the decline of national universities outside the main metropolitan areas. Unlike top national universities, which produce workers with academic backgrounds, they find it difficult to attract enough students for academic majors. Also, unlike private universities, they cannot easily switch to vocational education due to the existing structure of academic programs and limited resources. Instead, national universities located in smaller cities increase the number of interdisciplinary programs by consolidating existing programs. They suffer from the urban concentration of college students, 40 percent of whom attend universities in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Large private universities in urban areas are attracting more students from all over the country by offering not only practical studies but also by providing opportunities to develop social and professional skills outside the university, simply because of their location. The alumni network is also an advantage of large private universities.

One more consequence of vocationalization is the decline of faculty autonomy. Since the consolidation of schools and the establishment of new schools are subject to managerial decisions, faculty members teaching academic subjects are in a defensive position in regard to university management. This problem is related to the fact that decisions to close down universities are usually taken in a top-down manner. Moreover, professors of practice are used to the corporate style of management, and are indifferent to faculty autonomy, which used to be prominent in the past. Thus, the university governance system is shifting from faculty dominance to professional managers and the boards of trustees. Redivision of labor among faculty members is also underway, with teaching, research, and administrative tasks being assigned to relevant experts.

From Old Academic Presuppositions to New Realities

Japanese trends follow Martin Trow’s three stages of higher education development. As one moves from the elite stage to the universal stage, the curriculum changes from intellectual curiosity to commercial utility, or from academic subjects to practical subjects. The current interest in standardized curricula, modules, and clear learning outcomes is more in line with vocational education. The focus is also shifting from the privileges of the faculty to the needs of the students.

The transformation of Japanese higher education is not like that of North American or European higher education. In the former, public institutions have contributed to the expansion of higher education opportunities by offering vocational subjects, and in the latter, an academic track is clearly separated from a vocational track during secondary education. In Japanese higher education, private universities are sensitive to providing education that meets market needs.

Vocationalization has also affected secondary education. Until recently, Japanese high school students spent a lot of energy preparing for entrance exams. The current trend, however, is to differentiate among universities. Traditional national universities, such as the former Imperial Universities, continue to focus on written entrance examinations, while urban private universities focus on high school portfolio selection, and local private universities have virtually open admissions. National universities outside the major metropolitan areas are struggling to shift from written examinations to portfolio selection.

The spread of vocationalization is changing the landscape of higher education in Japan. To attract high school students and international students, not only better quality of education and research performance is necessary but also new marketing strategies. University governance is now beyond the scope of the academic profession, and the consolidation of existing programs and the planning of new programs are moving into the hands of professional administrators.

Keiichiro Yoshinaga is professor of higher education policy at the Institute of Liberal Arts and Science, Kanazawa University, Japan. E-mail: [email protected].