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Universities offer ‘special track' for students with foreign roots
An admissions brochure for a university entrance exam targeting students with foreign roots on Aug. 14 (Chika Yamamoto)
Shiv Kumar Gautam, a 23-year-old student who came to Japan as a teenager, nearly gave up his plans to advance to higher education here.
'No matter how well I could speak Japanese, I felt I couldn't compete with native Japanese students in subjects like Japanese language and social studies,' he recalled.
A teacher then told him about a 'special category for students with foreign roots' for admission at the Kansai University of International Studies.
The program started in the last academic year, designed specifically to address the low advancement rates to higher education among students with international backgrounds.
Gautam applied and was accepted as a member of the program's very first class, allowing him to pursue his dream of starting his own business in Japan.
A growing number of universities are similarly rolling out special entrance examinations designed for students with international backgrounds.
In the last academic year, at least 23 universities across Japan offered these specialized admission tracks, and more are on the way.
As the number of foreign residents in Japan continues to climb, this expanding initiative is a direct response to the challenges facing children with foreign roots as they navigate Japan's education system.
NEW ADMISSIONS TRACK
In May, Komatsu University, a public institution located in Komatsu city in southern Ishikawa Prefecture, posted an announcement on its website: 'A new admissions track for students with foreign roots in the Department of Nursing!'
The new track is set to begin with entrance exams held during the current academic year. Only a limited number of spots will be available.
The program is open to applicants who have graduated from a Japanese high school and have at least one parent of foreign nationality, among other criteria.
The selection process will mirror the one used for working adult applicants. Basically, admission is decided based on an interview, a short essay written in Japanese, school transcripts and a statement of purpose.
Komatsu city, a manufacturing hub, has the second-largest population of foreign residents in the prefecture, trailing only the prefectural capital of Kanazawa.
As of the end of 2024, about 3,200 foreign nationals lived in Komatsu, including a large community of Brazilians.
Many foreign workers in Japan are now bringing their families to the country, and the number of children with foreign nationality in Komatsu will likely continue to rise.
For many children with international backgrounds, Japanese is not their native language. Despite this disadvantage, they often must compete under the same conditions as their Japanese peers when pursuing higher education or employment in the country.
'We want to expand their opportunities for higher education, even if just by a little, to ensure they don't fall through the cracks when it comes to their studies and future careers,' a representative of Komatsu University explained.
SHIFT IN ENTRANCE EXAMS
Last academic year, the 23 universities offering such programs included Toyo University in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward and Osaka Jogakuin University in Osaka. This academic year, at least three additional schools are scheduled to start their own programs.
The rise in specialized admissions is backed by a recommendation from the education ministry, which encourages universities to adopt entrance exams that place greater emphasis on the motivation and sense of purpose of applicants from diverse backgrounds in terms of gender and nationality, among other things.
A similar movement is now spreading among national universities.
Utsunomiya University's School of International Studies established a similar entrance exam in the 2016 academic year.
Currently, the school offers a 'foreign student' track as part of its comprehensive selection process. Applicants are evaluated based on their English proficiency scores from tests like TOEIC, as well as a Japanese essay of about 800 characters and an interview.
So far, more than 25 students with roots in such countries as Brazil and China have been admitted to the university through this selection system.
Makoto Nakamura, who heads the School of International Studies, said the initiative also benefits many of the university's Japanese students.
'By having students from diverse roots learn and participate in activities together, they can cultivate a truly international perspective over their four years of study,' Nakamura said.
MORE FOREIGN CHILDREN
According to the ministry's annual basic school survey, the number of students with foreign nationality enrolled in Japanese elementary, junior high and high schools reached 149,000 in the 2024 academic year.
That was nearly double from the 76,000 foreign students recorded 20 years ago in the 2004 academic year.
The challenges extend even to children with Japanese citizenship. Some are raised in households where a parent's foreign native language is primarily spoken, making the children less proficient in Japanese.
For such students with foreign roots, the hurdles go beyond the language barrier. Subjects like history and Japanese literature can be difficult to grasp due to differences in their upbringing and cultural context.
As a result, students with sufficient academic ability often struggle to fully demonstrate their skills on exams conducted in Japanese.
According to a ministry survey, 46.6 percent of public high school students who required Japanese language instruction—a group that includes students with Japanese citizenship—advanced to higher education in the 2023 academic year.
This rate was significantly lower than the national average of 75 percent.
NEVER EASY
Gautam, now a second-year student in the Department of Business Administration at Kansai University of International Studies, said the challenge continues.
Gautam was 14 when he came from Nepal to Japan, where his father worked as a chef.
He enrolled in a municipal junior high school in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, and later attended a part-time high school. And while his conversational Japanese skills improved, he felt he hit a wall.
But he passed the selection process at Kansai University of International Studies, which was based on a statement of purpose, school records, and a personal interview.
Kansai University of International Studies is known for its strong support system, where each student is assigned a faculty adviser—similar to a homeroom teacher—to provide individual guidance.
'The classes are difficult,' Gautam said.
There are times when he visits a professor's office after class to get the lesson explained again but in English.
Students with foreign roots often come from families with unstable incomes.
To ensure that financial circumstances do not force them to abandon their studies, the Kansai University of International Studies provides support, such as a scholarship equivalent to 30 percent of the first-year tuition fee.
Kosuke Yamamoto, an associate professor of sociology of education at the university who specializes in minority education, called for the creation of this admissions track.
'The establishment of this system is helping to raise awareness among our faculty about the existence of students with foreign roots and the challenges they face,' Yamamoto said. 'As a local university that bears the name 'International,' I hope that we can contribute to addressing the issues within our local community.'
(This article was written by Chika Yamamoto and Takuya Asakura.)
