Scholarship

”Japan needs more people with foreign experience”

A comprehensive scholarship program
for Japanese students to study overseas

By William H. Saito

The Problem

The number of Japanese students going overseas to study has been plummeting in recent years, and this is a serious matter for anyone concerned about the future of Japan. To reverse this trend, a new scholarship fund is needed to encourage students at Japanese universities to spend time overseas.

Japan has been in a serious malaise for the last 20 years. While the reasons for the deep sense of gloom gripping the nation are many and complex, one thing is inarguable – Japan’s global competitiveness has suffered. These two decades of malaise have been accompanied by a growing insularity, in business, academia and other segments of society. At the core of Japan’s problems – sagging academic performance among Japanese students, the declining competitiveness of Japanese industry, and a glaring absence of leadership in every segment of Japan’s society – lies this disturbing tendency toward insularity.

Trojan horse for change

Japan can do a lot to fix itself, but if it wants to lay the foundation for a better, more vigorous future, it must shuck off this insularity and engage with the world. And the best way to start – the investment in the future with the greatest potential return – is to promote study abroad.

Implementing this one simple concept, of a wide-reaching scholarship fund for overseas study, would, in a sense, provide a sort of “Trojan horse” into the Japanese establishment. What superficially seems like a simple program to encourage overseas study would inevitably unearth a whole slew of inefficiencies, barriers and problems waiting to be solved in Japan’s government, education system and society.

At the same time, it would go a long way toward helping to renew and reinvigorate Japan and help it shake off the fetters that have been holding it back all these years – allowing this country to regain its natural innovative, competitive spirit and prosper once more.

(Excerpt from soon to be published article outlining a new initiative being proposed by IMPACT Japan)