Japan is preparing to overhaul its graduate education system by implementing integrated five-year bachelor’s-master’s programs across the country, in a bid to boost graduate school enrollment and increase the number of highly skilled professionals in its dwindling workforce.

The education ministry presented its proposal on Wednesday at a subcommittee of the Central Council for Education, with official implementation set to begin as early as the 2026 academic year.

Under the current system, students in Japan typically spend four years as undergraduates and two in a master’s program. The proposed reform would shorten the total to five years by allowing students to complete a one-year master’s program after a standard four-year undergraduate course. It would also make it possible for students to begin taking master’s-level courses while still enrolled as undergraduates.

With the number of 18-year-olds — the traditional university entry cohort — continuing to decline as the population ages, universities are facing enrollment pressure amid a growing demand to produce specialists for the country’s decreasing workforce, rather than generalists.

While a limited fast-track framework already exists under the current system — allowing outstanding students at certain universities to complete both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in a shorter time — such programs have so far been implemented only at a few institutions, including Keio University’s four-year combined master’s program and Hitotsubashi University’s five-year program. The University of Tokyo is also preparing to launch a 4+1 program at its College of Design when it opens in 2027.

The government hopes that formalizing the five-year track at universities across the country will help strengthen Japan’s international competitiveness and make it more attractive to international students.

According to the education ministry, 12.6% of undergraduate students in Japan advanced to graduate schools or equivalent institutions in the 2024 academic year — a rate that was significantly lower than that of many Western countries.

The rate of graduate school enrollment also varies by field. In science and engineering, about 40% of undergraduates go on to graduate school. In contrast, the numbers are much lower in the humanities and social sciences — in 2023, only 4.5% of humanities graduates and 2.8% of social science graduates pursued further study, according to the ministry.

Discussions within the council have highlighted concerns that efficiency must not come at the expense of quality. Concerns were raised that if students are forced to complete both bachelor’s and master’s theses within compressed timelines, research standards may drop.

Council members further stressed that reforms must be accompanied by changes in recruitment practices. Unless employers begin valuing master’s qualifications more explicitly, students may see little incentive to invest an additional year in study — even if offered at an accelerated pace.