Japanese Universities: An In-Depth Look

English-medium instruction (EMI) of content courses is a growing trend in higher education in Japan. As of 2013, over 1/3 of Japanese universities offered EMI courses, mainly in humanities and social sciences, and this number has been steadily growing over the past 15 years. The timing of the growth in EMI can be tied to shifts in how internationalization is viewed among higher-education stakeholders, administrative and structural changes at universities, changes in the relationship between universities and the government, and the rising importance of university ranking tables. Underlying rationales for EMI implementation can be understood in terms of wider global trends towards greater internationalization, and the massification of higher education in Japan. Other oft cited rationales for EMI implementation, financial incentives or the inward looking tendencies of Japanese youth, do not appear to be significant drivers. Brown, H. (2017). Why and why now? Understanding the rapid rise of English-medium instruction in higher education in Japan. Journal of International Studies and Regional Development, 8 1-16

The international success of universities in the Asia Pacific region is affected by their students’ command of English. Internationalization through the increasing use of English as a means to boost institutional revenues, or “academic capitalism” (Choi 2011:234) as it has been termed, is central to a long-term commitment to improving the international standing of universities in the Asia Pacific region (Ishikawa, 2009). The internationalization of tertiary education in the developed countries of Asia is in part a reflection of the requirements of international institutions tasked with ranking establishments of higher education. The use of English for international outreach is part of the murky metrics that lie at the heart of these rankings. Long ranked below European and North American institutions, the use of English for ‘internationalization’ is being targeted as a method of boosting the public profile of Asian universities (Kuwamura, 2009; Huang, 2009). In an effort to improve the standing of their universities in international rankings, the Republic of Korea implemented measures that would increase the number of English-medium courses in their universities (Cho, 2011). Japan has also moved to increase English use and foreign recruitment of students with its Global 30 initiative (MEXT, 2010).

Sophia International Review, Vol 35, 25-38, March 2013 , 2013

University of Dublin, raised some significant considerations regarding Sophia University's objectives in providing an "international" education for an increasingly international student body. Especially as more and more "international" undergraduate programs (i.e. all undergraduate coursework in English) sprout up across Japan, it is of most importance now that we-academic faculty of Sophia University-clarify the objectives and goals of our programs. Our programs, while they do all have an academic English skills component, are made up of "content" courses, rather than "language" courses, meaning students access English and develop language skills through the study of subjects other than language. With the high percentage of bi-and multi-linguals at Sophia, it is easy to overlook the language ability of our students and to target the course as one would in a "native" English program, but Dr. Rose warns of the dangers of this.

System, 2018

English-Medium Instruction in Japanese Higher Education: Policy, Challenges and Outcomes. A. Bradford, H. Brown (Eds). Multilingual Matters (2017). xxiii + 300pp. I have been researching EMI in Japan since my Master's degree in 2013. I looked at a trilingual international professor's strategic use of code-switching. My DPhil research is investigating what the main predictors are of professor and students' attitudes towards EMI. I am familiar with the Japanese context and have witnessed how the eruption of EMI seems to have caught everyone off guard. This is also a personal matter for me as I have two, largely monolingual, Japanese godsons who will one day face the same challenges faced by all Japanese university students in Japan. As a result, Bradford and Brown's edited book piqued my interest as it is the first volume focused solely on Japan. As research on EMI in Japan is still in its infant stages I hoped to read more large-scale empirical research, nevertheless, contributors do provide valuable contextual descriptions, theoretical contributions, small-scale qualitative study findings, and insights from personal experience. A look back into the history of Japanese education policy highlighted to me a tangential relationship between EMI and money. Bradford and Brown (p. 7) note the key role that the Japan Business Federation plays in education policy making. Motivated by a shrinking domestic market, Japanese businesses are calling on universities to foster graduates that are equipped with the linguistic skills and the cultural capital to operate in a global trading arena. This lack of graduate global competitiveness is reinforced by Hashimoto (p. 15). What the authors lack to explain is why such competitiveness has not yet been fostered in the last 10 years of EMI expansion.

This article begins by discussing the context and major policies as well as the rationales related to internationalization of the university curricula in Japan. It then touches on internationalization of the curricula in Japanese higher education institutions at home and on development of cross-border curricula that are both imported into Japan and provided in higher education institutions abroad. The article concludes by arguing that internationalization of the university curricula in Japan has changed to the extent that it no longer plays the minor and unimportant role in attracting and hosting international students that used to be expected in the early 1980s. Currently internationalization of the university curricula in Japan is not confined merely to the development of language education for both international students and Japanese students at home but also involves a variety of cross-border educational initiatives.

OnCue Journal, 2016

Brown, H. (2016). Current trends in English-medium instruction at universities in Japan. OnCue Journal, 10(1) 3-20. English-medium Instruction (EMI) of academic subjects is expanding rapidly at universities in Japan without a clear nationwide picture of the context. This study paints such a picture with findings from a nationwide survey of 258 universities with undergraduate EMI programs (response rate 46%, n=118). The survey results cover the scope, scale and organization of EMI programs as well as showing which fields are most often taught in English. Results also reveal some challenges to EMI implementation relating to both faculty and students. 日本の大学において、専門課程の英語による教育（EMI）が急速に広がりつつあるが、全国的な現状の輪郭は明確に描かれていない。本研究は、EMIによる学位プログラムを提供する日本の大学258校を対象に実施した全国的調査によって明らかになった現状を報告する(回答率46%, n=118)。調査結果は、英語による教育が最も多く提供されている分野を示すだけでなく、EMIプログラムの範囲、規模、組織についても取り上げる。また、教員および学生双方のEMI導入に対する課題を明らかにする。

The number of international students in Japan is rising in line with global trends. Commensurately, so is the use of English in Japanese universities, as a medium of both instruction and inter-student communication on campus. English foreign language education is a key component of the language curriculum in Japan and has evolved in recent years to encompass the requirement to prepare university students for English-mediated instruction (EMI) courses. This development is linked to the oft-expressed interest of the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) to internationalize Japanese tertiary education institutions. This paper reports the development of the importance of English in Japanese tertiary education, the reasons for its position as a subject of special focus, and the long-term implications of this focus on English in Japan. This issue is one of the most important facing Japanese education, as it will affect how universities structure their courses, how schools and curricula prior to university level prepare students for the use of English, and how students use English both personally and professionally in their postgraduation careers.

The number of institutions offering English-medium instruction of content classes (EMI) is growing in Japan. Along with high profile programs at elite universities, innovations in EMI are developing across the country. According to government sources, at least 194 universities currently offer some undergraduate EMI courses, often in humanities and social sciences. However, individual EMI programs are developing to suit local needs and contexts. Some are fully-developed, degree-granting programs while others have much less coherence. Currently there is no overall picture of the growth of EMI and no clear indication of what the future implications for Japanese higher education might be. This presentation focuses on the initial results of a study attempting to develop just such a picture. Based on a review of published documents, interviews with EMI program stakeholders and a survey sent to all universities known to offer EMI, results show that EMI programs in Japan exist along a continuum from ad hoc collections of EMI classes scattered across faculties, based on individual teachers' decisions to teach in English, to entire campuses running in English. A tentative typology of undergraduate EMI in Japan can now be proposed to outline the motivations, goals, makeup and pedagogies of programs. This allows a discussion of possible implications of this new trend to proceed on a solid foundation: a real understanding of the current state of EMI in Japan.

比治山大学・比治山大学短期大学部教職課程研究 Review of the research on teachers training, 2020

Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, in fact, has already launched English education reform in elementary and secondary education. Many discussions on English education reform in higher education, however, have not yet determined concrete measures for reform. Considering English education reform at earlier stages, it can be assumed that, in the future, English education in universities will confront further bipolarization of students' English proficiency. Early English education will increase the number of Japanese with higher English ability, but on the other hand, it does not necessarily reduce the number of those with low English ability. Small and medium-sized universities, which constitute the majority of Japanese universities, will face the problem of admitting students with low English ability who must be trained as human resources who can use English in an increasingly globalized society. To develop a concrete plan today for English education, it is an urgent task for universities to prepare for changes in the English education situation that will come within the next 10 years. In order to obtain clues to solving the present problem, we compare the English education of universities in Korea and Taiwan with Japanese English education. Our specific concerns are based on three aims: (A) What is the structure and curriculum of English education at other East Asian universities? (B) How is English competence evaluated at these universities? (C) What out-of-class support does each university offer students who study English? We made and sent a list of questions 1 to the three universities before our investigation trips. We had meetings with the persons in charge of the English curriculum, observed some English courses, and interviewed some English teachers there. The investigation report of universities is as follows: two universities in Taiwan (hereinafter University A and University B) conducted by David M. Mosher