Government to cut foreign Ph.D. students' living expense stipends
Japan's education ministry announced on June 26 that international doctoral students will be excluded from receiving support program funding for their living expenses from fiscal 2027.
These expense make up a majority of the maximum 2.9 million yen ($20,100) a student can receive annually from the Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation (SPRING) program.
The policy change slashes up to 2.4 million yen and will leave individuals with an average of 400,000 yen for research activities.
The program started in fiscal 2021 and typically provides up to 2.9 million yen per year for a maximum of three years to Ph.D. students.
In fiscal 2024, 10,564 students at 80 universities across Japan received this funding. However, concerns were raised at a March Diet session that about 40 percent of the recipients were international students, with the majority being from China.
During an expert panel meeting on June 26, the education ministry clarified that the original intent of the program is 'primarily to support Japanese students who are hesitant to pursue doctoral studies due to financial concerns.'
The ministry added that international students typically decide to pursue doctoral studies before arriving in Japan and often have the financial ability to study abroad independently.
'Living expense support will not be provided to international students,' the ministry concluded.
'The number of international students receiving the grant exceeded our initial expectations,' an education ministry official said. 'This is not intended to exclude foreign students but to reaffirm the program's main purpose of supporting domestic students.'
On the other hand, the decision could hinder the government's goal to increase the number of international students in Japan to 400,000 by 2033.
Amid rising xenophobia surrounding universities in the United States, a professor at a Japanese national university criticized the change to the program, saying, 'The government doesn't understand the global situation.'
He added, 'The low enrollment in doctoral programs is rooted in problems within Japanese society itself. The decision to limit living support to Japanese students reflects an inward-looking mentality that may be underlying this issue.'
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