Universities in U.S. giving up on Japan / Japanese kids would rather stay home

NEW YORK--More and more U.S. universities are apparently giving up on Japan as a target for recruiting students, as a survey showed that the number of U.S. universities taking part in publicity events in Japan has sharply dropped in recent years.

In the wake of a significant decrease in the number of Japanese students studying in the United States, the institutions are shifting their targets to other Asian countries, such as China.

Such a trend could affect Japan-U.S. relations in the future, observers said.

Japanese students used to be the largest group among foreign students at U.S. universities. But their number is now far below that of Chinese students.

Japan ranked sixth in terms of the number of foreign students studying at U.S. universities in the 2009-10 academic year.

Experts say the decrease reflects the inward-looking attitude of current Japanese students, a growing number of whom have no interest in studying overseas.

The Institute of International Education, a U.S. nonprofit organization that has promoted international exchange programs for study and training since 1919, has held study abroad fairs in Japan every year since 1991.

Reflecting the decreasing number of Japanese students who study in the United States, the number of U.S. universities participating in the fair dropped to 21 in 2010, one-fifth of the 106 that participated in 2006.

The decline is all the more conspicuous as the number of U.S. universities participating in similar fairs held in China, India and Vietnam during the same period has held steady.

IIE is an authority on international education exchange in the United States. It works closely with the Japan-U.S. Educational Commission, which manages the Fulbright grant program.

Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president and chief operating officer of IIE, worries about the decline in the number of Japanese students in the United States, saying that when she looks 10 or 20 years ahead, she sees it as an extremely serious situation in terms of the U.S.-Japan relationship.

Blumenthal's opinion stems from the fact that a number of Japanese who had studied in the United States after World War II later became leaders in various fields in their home country.

Even so, she said IIE is considering not holding the fair in Japan any longer as it is unable to halt the decline in the number of U.S. universities that participate.

Linden Educational Services, an educational consulting company based in Washington, D.C., that supports U.S. universities in recruiting foreign students, used to send 35 to 40 people from U.S. universities to Japan every year. However, it has dropped Japan from their itineraries since 2009, according to the company.

The University of Denver in Colorado stopped participating in the fair in Japan in 2008. Marjorie Smith, associate dean of international admissions, said it was useless to send representatives to Japan as students here were not interested. She wondered why this was happening in spite of the strong yen that makes it less expensive for Japanese to study abroad.

Japanese students were the largest foreign student group at U.S. universities for four consecutive years from the 1994-95 academic year. Their numbers peaked at 47,073 in the 1997-98 school year and remained flat in subsequent years. But since the 2005-06 academic year, the number has dropped for five consecutive years.

In the 2008-09 period, the number decreased by 13.9 percent from the previous year, and in 2009-10, it dropped by 15.1 percent from the previous year.

In 2009-10, the number of Japanese students in the United States stood at 24,842.

One major factor behind the decrease is that it has become easier for students to enter Japanese universities due to the nation's chronically low birthrate. Students also consider studying abroad to be disadvantageous in terms of job hunting, which usually begins in earnest during their junior year.

(Jan. 9, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110108003158.htm