The ministry of MEXT (the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) and the immigration of Japan has reported that Tokyo Fukushi University (東京福祉大学) has accepted about 12,000 foreign students for 3 years since 2016 and missed over 1,600 foreign students out of 12,000. Most of the students accepted by Tokyo Fukushi university are the students called “non-regular“, which influences the number of illegal stayers in Japan.
Tokyo Fukushi university is condemned that its easy and inappropriate acceptance of many foreign students and careless enrollment management causes troubles such as missing many students and increasing illegal stayers.
The Ministry of MEXT recognized that the university was fatal liable for missing huge number of foreign students and decided not to accept visa status of foreign students who newly go on to Tokyo Fukushi University for the time being.
The thing problematized as well as enrollment management is sloppy enrollment selection. To enter a Japanese educational institution, every single foreign student needs to take a Japanese language ability test, called “ JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test)” and reach a certain required level depending on the educational institution.
Generally, foreign students who go to a Japanese university or college are required to have Japanese language qualification of N1 or N2 of JLPT
Preparatory students who take a 1-year preparation course that aims to go on to a university or a college need to at least have N3. However, this university seemed to ignore the student’s JLPT level required by the immigration bureau of Japan for language qualification screening.
However, the actual circumstance is that Tokyo Fukushi university accepted foreign students who didn’t even reach the level of N4 or N5, which is very basic Japanese language communication skill for those who start learning Japanese.
Examination contents are only documented screening and interviewing. The applicant’s passing rate is more than 90 percent. Tokyo Fukushi university attracted applicants with a catchphrase, “class attendance time is 10 hours a week and you can easily do the part-time job simultaneously” on the ads.
With the expansion of acceptance of foreign students, Tokyo Fukushi university wasn’t able to accommodate all the students in its own building from the aspect of the room capacity and it newly rent a room of a private building for the classroom, which is like the second floor of a public bathhouse.
It finally rent rooms around the university buildings in more than 10 places. In the worst case, it is said that there is a restroom inside a rental room used as a classroom and another course students sometimes come into the room to use a restroom during the class.
Educational critics doubt if this university pretends to be ostensively an academic education institution but its actual condition is just an accepting organization for those foreigners who want somehow to work in Japan under pain of being an illegal stayer.
The Ministry of MEXT and immigration bureau of Japan has the policy to introduce a measure to restrict newly granting visa status to foreign students if the accepting university or college operates significantly inappropriate enrollment management.
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Points to pay attention to
If a foreign student drops the course, he/she needs to leave Japan at the same time
Foreign students have the right to drop the course they major in halfway. However, if a foreign student got a visa status as “Student”, dropping the course means disqualification of visa status that forces any dropping student to leave Japan no-exceptionally.
If a student abandons own visa position, a student is obviously required to leave the country that grants the visa status.
However, in this case, foreign students absconded from Tokyo Fukushi university, which means the same as a person who doesn’t originally aim to study something in Japan comes to Japan to pretend to be a “Student”
This occasion gives us a mission to improve the Japanese educational institution policy itself.
Some Japanese universities face serious financial difficulties and rely fully on foreign students.
In accordance with the liberalization of the installment of faculty and department of the university and college, fixed university admission quotas have increased.
However, the absolute number of students tended to reduce because of declining birthrate. For that reason, low-profile new entrant universities tend to face financial difficulties.
Unless universities correct students domestically, there is no choice but to rely only on foreign students to support financial situation.
It is no wonder that universities in financial difficulties attract foreign students lured by visa status of “Student” as a measure of desperation in order to secure short-term financial resources.
The present education law doesn’t oblige educational institutions to take care of student’s living after graduation and doesn’t liable for missing foreign students who are granted visa status of “Student”.
The present education law doesn’t oblige educational institutions to take care of student’s living after graduation and doesn’t liable for missing foreign students with a visa status of “Student”.
The present educational circumstance allows universities and colleges to get tuition fee from foreign students in exchange for carrying water for illegal employment. Nothing can stop such frauds from educational institutions in Japan.
“Free education policy” by the government has its dark side
The Japanese government is steering domestic education in the direction of “free education”.
Promoting “Free education” is no more than subsidizing educational institutions facing financial difficulties.
Nowadays, the total number of applicants goes below total university and college admission quotas
So, there are no necessities to keep supporting educational institutions in financial difficulties by even putting subsidy in it.
Originally, each university or college should take a measure by suggesting student first policy such as tuition fee reduction under the circumstance of over-supply.
It is not a good idea to keep educational institutions not supported by students alive by injecting subsidy.
These educational institutions that lure foreign students, aiming to finally work in Japan, with a certain visa status need to be put under the strict control of the government