WESTERN EDUCATION IN JAPAN

After a couple of decades in the working world, Masanori Sugano decided to go back to school. The Tokyo Government employee studied politics and economics at a Japanese university when he was a young man, so this time he wanted to try something different – he wanted to find out about Western-style education. With this in mind, Sugano enrolled in courses at the University of Maryland University College Asia – one of nearly a half dozen foreign universities and colleges that offer programs in Japan. Sugano says UMUC offered him the chance to broaden his horizons; improving not only his language skills but also his cultural awareness.

“I needed to make a presentation in English and I was interested in learning a foreign language among its native speakers,” says Sugano. “Basically the environment that you are immersed in is good in terms of learning English and (Western) culture while reflecting on your language and its culture.”

The prospect of studying at a foreign university can be intimidating for Japanese students unaccustomed to Western-style learning. Even Sugano, who speaks English fluently, admits to feeling “a little awkward in class” at first. He says the biggest difference is the way that Western students are called upon to participate and not merely sit back and take notes.

“Most professors at an American university seemed to encourage students to ask a lot of questions, while (Japanese) counterparts didn’t seem to encourage students to ask a lot of questions,” says Sugano.

“The teaching style at an American university is a two-way street. Students sometimes openly express their doubts to professors,” he says, adding it is not considered a sign of disrespect.

“Students at a Japanese university rarely ask a question (of) their professors, much less openly express doubts to them,” which can be construed as demeaning to the professors.

Sugano’s situation as an Easterner in a Western classroom is not uncommon. In fact, dozens of Japanese students have signed up for courses at foreign universities in Japan over the past few years. Schools such as UMUC, the University of Phoenix, Temple University, Central Texas College, McGill University and Lakeland College offer various undergraduate and graduate programs in the Tokyo area.

Temple University, Japan Campus
Temple University, Japan Campus bills itself the oldest and largest foreign university in Japan. Established in 1982, TUJ’s downtown campus offers ten core undergraduate programs along with graduate degrees in law, business and education. According to its website, TUJ is home to about 3,300 students from more than 60 countries including Japan, the US, the Middle East and Europe. Temple also offers corporate and continuing education classes at its central-Tokyo based campus.

“We believe that the TUJ educational experience is unique in Japan,” says Masami Nakagawa, Temple Japan’s Chief Communications Officer. “We are the only true university (i.e. undergraduate and graduate programs) that teaches all of its courses in English and that provides a truly international liberal arts education which nurtures the kind of qualities required by today’s multi-national enterprises.”

“All programs (except for the LLM) can be completed at TUJ so that graduates can earn well-recognized American degrees without having to leave Japan.”

TUJ was the first educational institution in Japan to be officially recognized as a Foreign University by Japan’s Ministry of Education. This status allows TUJ to sponsor student visas, enabling international students to attend the university either on a short-term (one or two semesters) or a longterm basis (full four-year program).

Nakagawa says about 40 percent of Temple’s students are American, 40 percent Japanese and 20 percent other nationalities. TUJ credits and degrees are fully recognized by Japanese universities and Temple graduates can apply to graduate schools at Japanese public universities. She says that Temple graduates are of particular interest to companies looking for students with a global perspective.

“One of the most important reasons for students to come here is that our placement rate is typically about 90% as Japanese and multinational corporations value the liberal arts-based intellectual skills, such as critical thinking, and the communication skills of our graduates,” says Nakagawa.

Studying at a foreign university in Japan is not cheap. However, taking courses in Japan can actually be less expensive than studying Stateside. At Temple, a full-time undergraduate pays ¥730,700 in tuition per semester, or about $19,200 per year. The annual full-time tuition at the main Temple campus in the US is $23,032. That of course does not include living expenses and other costs associated with studying in America. On the downside, TUJ is not considered a Japanese university so it does not benefit from tax exemptions or subsidies from the Japanese government. However, Nakagawa says TUJ has been “working to address these issues to ensure fair competition through various channels.”

Along with undergraduate programs, TUJ also offers MBAs, LLMs, Masters and Doctorate degrees in TESOL in Tokyo.

“These advanced degree programs each serve specific needs of the respective markets,” says Nakagawa. “(The) TESOL program especially, as TUJ’s oldest program, enjoys a high reputation among English teachers in Japan.”

Lakeland College, Japan Campus
Lakeland College is another US-based school that offers degree programs to Japanese and non-Japanese students in Tokyo. Affiliated with the home campus in Wisconsin, Lakeland began offering classes in Japan in the early 1990s. Today, the school boasts graduates at more than 60 universities and colleges in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Switzerland and Australia.

Lakeland’s Associate of Arts undergraduate degree program helps students make the transition to a foreign university from high school in Japan. A student takes courses for two years in Japan and then finishes with two years at the Wisconsin campus or another foreign university.

Associate Dean Dr. Alan Brender says this concept is a good selling point for his college, “Our school offers the advantage of being a stepping block or a transition from home and high school in Japan to a college or university in the States. After students are nurtured in our protective environment, personally encouraged by our professors and proven themselves academically and socially, they are better prepared to make the transition to a college or university in the States or elsewhere.”

“For many students, taking advantage of our two-plus-two program allows them to enter competitive universities that they may not have been able to enter as high school leavers.”

The Lakeland program, like the other foreign universities in Tokyo, helps ex-pat parents keep their children closer to home – at least for the first two years of university, which can be the most difficult. The transition from high school to university does not have to be done far away from family, friends and other support. Also, like Temple, doing two years of university in Japan saves money.

“Parents can save money on air fares, housing and higher tuitions fees by having their children studying in Japan for two years before going to the States or elsewhere for the final two years,” says Brender.

“Since the Japanese Ministry of Education also recognizes us, the students can also stay in Japan and transfer to a Japanese university if they wish. Our college is conveniently located in Shinjuku, so it is an easy commute for most students no matter where they reside in the greater Tokyo area.”

Lakeland does not offer any advanced degrees. However, its non-degree ‘Open College’ courses attract many executives looking to upgrade their skills. Open College courses include International Business Negotiation, Strategies for Making Business Decisions, Personal Finance, Cross-cultural Communication, Negotiation Strategies, Web Page Design, Korean, Chinese and Japanese languages among others.

“As part of our community outreach program, we offer a monthly free lecture,” says Brender. “These tend to be eclectic.

Among the lectures we have offered recently are Tokyo Architecture in the 21st Century, the History of Pizza in Japan, International Negotiating Techniques, the Future of North and South Korea, the abduction issue of children by Japanese spouses.”

“We even had a lecture by an 82-year old former kamikaze pilot.”

Like most universities in Japan, Lakeland College is dealing with the ‘demographic issue.’ Every year, there are fewer 18 year-olds enrolling in university or college programs, so the pool of prospective students is shrinking and the competition is fierce. But Brender says Lakeland is facing this challenge by offering students something different: “if the counselors would look more closely they would see that we serve a niche market from which some of their students could greatly benefit.”

“We had one student who graduated from St. Mary’s High School. His parents sent him to the States to study. He was of mixed heritage (American and Japanese) and felt lost there and failed most of his subjects. He returned to Japan and enrolled at our school where he excelled. He ended up with the second highest GPA when he graduated with his AA degree. He is now enrolled at NYU and doing well.”

McGill University, Japan
Executives are often looking to upgrade their qualifications, especially with an MBA. However, many professional people are not able to find time for classes during their busy work-week. Montreal’s McGill University has a solution: a weekend MBA program. The prestigious Canadian university offers a unique program in Japan where students can earn a full MBA by attending classes on Saturday and Sunday. Best of all, again, the McGill program is significantly less expensive than similar programs.

“We charge 4,800,000 yen for the whole program,” says Philip O’Neill, Director of the McGill MBA Japan Program. “That is about 94,000 yen per credit.”

“It includes all the materials, coffee, books, access to materials, etc. At the moment, this is quite a bit less than the cost at the home campus.”

O’Neill says the strength of the McGill program is that it brings in professors from its Canadian campus. McGill was recently named the 17th best university in the world in the QS World University Rankings, meaning it is not only the top-rated university in Canada, but one of the best universities in the world (Tokyo University ranked 25th).

“Our professors are at the forefront of research and teaching in their areas,” says O’Neill. “So, we think this is important for the students’ learning experience.”

“We also have very stringent entrance requirements for our students, because they need to be able to perform at a very high level, and very intensively, during our program. Our program really caters to students who want to have a very intense and rigorous program.”

O’Neill says McGill’s Japan MBA program has proven popular with not only Japanese, but students from all over the world.

“Historically, about 40 or 45% of (our) students are Japanese. We also have students from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Canada, the US, Europe, South American and sometimes from Africa.”

“This is probably one of the most diverse groups of students anywhere.”

University of Maryland University College Asia
The University of Maryland University College has been offering programs in Asia for more than 60 years. Operating under a US Department of Defense contract, UMUC appeals mainly to members of the US military who want to complete their education on Uncle Sam’s dime. However, while soldiers, sailors and airmen remain UMUC’S bread and butter, the university has started reaching out to civilians.

“UMUC Asia’s mission is to offer academic programs to US military communities throughout Asia and the Pacific,” says Ted Loya, Regional Enrollment Manager for UMUC Asia. “So our students are mainly military students, with a small percentage of host-country students, and an even smaller percentage of third-country students.”

UMUC offers 17 undergraduate degree programs and an advanced online learning program, where students can earn degrees without ever attending a face-to-face class. A full-time UMUC student can earn an Associate’s Degree in two years, just like at a college in the US.

There is one major consideration with UMUC: its campuses are located on military bases in Japan, Korea, and Europe, where security restrictions are enforced. Students from countries on less-than-friendly terms with America are not allowed on the bases.

“UMUC Asia is a guest of the military, so it is required to adhere to local military rules and regulations concerning off-base guests,” says Loya. “In this regard, the different services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps) have different policies, so there will be times when a student will not be able to attend UMUC classes at one base, but will be able to attend classes at another base. Basically, restrictions apply on a case-by-case basis.”

In an effort to reach out to Japanese students, UMUC offers an ESL “bridge” program which is designed to help Japanese and other non-native English speakers improve their oral and written English skills, in order to transition into the American educational system. Japanese students need an official certificate of English proficiency such as TOEFL or EIKEN before being admitted into UMUC’S Bridge Program. Students who went to an American high school or college can be admitted without a proficiency test.

Fostering Cultural Understanding
Whether a student wants to upgrade their qualifications or earn their first undergraduate degree, they now have many foreign university options in Tokyo. TUJ’s Nagakawa says the appeal of many foreign universities in Japan is that students can earn credits towards a degree that can either be completed here, or continued back home in America. Students from local international schools can also find a cheaper alternative to studying overseas, while staying close to their parents after leaving high school.

“The idea of keeping kids ‘closer to the nest’ is certainly a selling point,” says UMUC’s Ted Loya. “The uneven American economy has forced a lot of teenagers, and their parents, to reconsider stateside college plans, and once they find out about UMUC’s Asian Division and its competitive tuition rates, they realize that it makes financial sense to begin classes in Asia.”

Best of all, foreign university programs allow Japanese and non-Japanese students the chance to mix and learn together, exchanging ideas and philosophies. Masanori Sugano says that is why he would recommend a foreign university to a Japanese student – it is a great way to foster cultural understanding.

“I definitely recommend an American university to other Japanese students,” he says.

“It is a good option for them, because they recognize their own identity anew as well as improve their English. Moreover, they could play a key role in reducing friction between the US and Japan through mingling with American students.”