COMPLETION REPORT
Understanding Japan’s Approach on Internationalization of Higher Education and Its Lessons forIndonesia

Dr. Anggia Utami Dewi
Lecturer
Department of International Relations
Universitas Padjadjaran

This study has the objective to understand the development and current approach of internationalization of Japan’shigher education and universities, and to further discuss in what manner Indonesia can acquire from Japan’s
experiences in making their higher education institutions more competitive in global level. This study was conductedduring one-year period (March 2018-2019), including a field research trip in late October 2018 to University ofTokyo, Hitotsubashi University, Tohoku University, Meiji University, Toyo University, Japan’s Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Using a qualitative research methodology, the resultsof the study are elaborated below.
Internationalization in Japan’s higher education has a quite advanced development, even since the 1983 the Japan’s
government had set the target of 100.000 foreign students to enroll to the country in the beginning of 21st century.
The aid and international development approach were dominant, and the approach has changed where the current
agenda of internationalization is more driven from the rationale to invite best human resources to boost the country’scompetitiveness (skilled-migration approach) and to revitalize the economy (revenue-generating approach). TheJapanese government currently deliver the ‘Top Global University’ Project in 2014 which is the government-support
competitive funding projects for universities. Following the current government’s priority on education reform foreconomic revival, this project aims to provide intensive supports for Japanese universities to lead the global education
and research, and the main three parts of the project are internationalization, governance, and educational reform.
The responses from the Japanese universities of these government approach on internationalization agenda are notalways conclusive. Even though most universities agreed on the importance of internationalization in thisglobalization era, the perspective of ‘university world ranking’ has caused a huge debate. The current government
agenda seems to raise the issues of urging too much on quantitative indicators rather than a whole comprehensive
assessment to achieve the purposes of the project it self. However, regardless of the availability of government
funding, the universities interviewed in this research stated that internationalization is something unavoidable andshould be performed in a manner that suit the characteristic of each university. The challenges are prevailed in thedebates into what extend should English Medium Instruction should be enforced, also in dividing perspectives
between faculty members or departments within university.
Currently, Indonesian government and universities also moving forward to the reformation of higher education,
which includes the goals to make Indonesian universities more competitive in regional and global level. As can beseen from the pattern in Japan’s approach of internationalization, in the national level, the trend towards higher
education reform and internationalization in both Japan and Indonesia has many similarities, even though the policies
evaluation and assessment might be different. With abundant human resources, the Indonesian government need tofocus on the expansion of the opportunity and the enhancement of quality of higher education. Also, as Indonesia isa non-English speaking country like Japan, it is important to focus on the investment to make some typical researchareas which Indonesia could be leading on.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
The 19th International Conference on Education Research
Education for Democracy and Social Justice: Global, National, and Local Contexts
October 17th-19th, 2018/ Seoul National University
Title of presentation: "Internationalization and Education 2030: Exploring Government’s Approach on
Higher Education Reform in Japan and Indonesia"(Presented by Anggia Utami Dewi in the 2nd day of the ICER, October 18, 2018)
Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
Drafted for submission to international journal:“Japan’s Approach on Internationalization of Higher Education and Its Lessons for Indonesia”