250 Universities in Japan Face Closure Risk
Japan’s rapidly declining youth population has brought discussions of a comprehensive restructuring of the higher education system to the agenda. The Ministry of Finance argues that hundreds of private universities struggling to attract students should be closed or merged. According to a report published by the ministry this month, 250 universities, representing about 40 percent of the country’s 624 private higher education institutions, are being considered for closure or merger.
University circles acknowledge that many small private universities in Japan are facing enrollment shortages and financial pressures. However, experts argue that the problem cannot be explained solely by demographic decline, and that the Ministry of Education’s past approval of new universities has also contributed to the current situation.
Professor Makoto Watanabe of Hokkaido Bunkyo University stated that the number of universities being discussed for closure or merger is worrying for everyone in the field of education. Watanabe noted that Japan’s declining birth rate is not a new problem, adding that allowing new universities to open over the past decade has increased the existing excess capacity.
Another dimension of the debate concerns which fields higher education will prioritize in the future. According to Watanabe, while the government is giving greater priority to areas such as business, international trade, science, technology, and certain languages, humanities and social science fields such as philosophy, religion, literature, and sociology are being pushed into the background. Watanabe emphasized that these fields are essential for understanding human civilization and warned that discarding them in favor of a short-term economic perspective poses risks for society and democracy.