Until recently, with a handful of exceptions, the hallowed doors of collegiate academia in Japan were essentially open only to those students who were Japanese nationals who had gone through the Japanese school system and passed the entrance examination in Japanese. Since most universities and colleges offer their curriculum in Japanese only, this made sense.
For students of Nagoya International School (NIS) and other accredited international schools in Japan, English-based undergraduate programs within Japan have been limited to a handful of private universities. Access to the national or former “imperial” universities (considered to be the top universities in Japan) was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. International school students have not even been allowed the chance to apply — until now.
To foster internationalization in Japan, MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) developed the “Global 30 Project” to establish “core universities” to recruit top students from around the world to study in English-based degree programs in Japan. In 2009, thirteen universities were selected, including Nagoya University (NU).
NU is one of the few universities in this core group that has a strong and broad offering of undergraduate programs (as opposed to graduate programs) for all students, regardless of nationality. Included for the first time at a national former imperial university are internationalized Japanese who have either returned from overseas or have attended a school outside of the traditional Japanese curriculum, such as NIS or another international schools. Perhaps more importantly, NU is building on their strong history of excellence in the sciences and mathematics, and offering four strong majors in the natural and physical sciences and engineering.
Representatives of NU visited NIS recently for an evening session with parents and students to talk about the program, the details of the admissions process, and campus life. Scheduled to start in the fall of 2011, Nagoya University will offer five undergraduate programs that include automotive engineering, biological science, chemistry, physics, and social sciences. The first cohort of eligible students is NIS’s current class of seniors.
Students and parents of NIS and other international schools should, of course, be interested in the program. Nagoya University is ranked #91 in the QS World University Rankings, just behind Dartmouth College in the United States, and also still enjoys being in the limelight of recent Nobel Laureates in chemistry (2008) and physics (2008). Three of the university’s four Nobel Laureates are alumni and the fourth has taught at the university for over forty years. All four received their prizes in chemistry and physics. Well known in Nagoya, NU has a strong track record of job placement in the local economy, with healthy relationships with local businesses, many of which are global leaders in their fields, such as Toyota, Denso, Mitsubishi, and Brother.
NIS is not only grateful for the new opportunities for its graduates in Japan, but encouraged by the chance for its students, as well as students from other international schools, to help NU develop its program and to participate as bridge-builders between the international students and the Japanese students on campus.
For more information on NU and the program, visit http://admissions.g30.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
— ERIK OLSON-KIKUCHI
