Do university-bound Indian migrants actually stay in Japan?

Recently, a video of the Japanese ambassador to India, Hiroshi Suzuki, went viral in India. “I have one message to Indian people, particularly Indian young people. Please go to Japan to study and to work. If you are students, it's so easy to get visa,” Suzuki says to Hindi-speaking Japanese YouTuber Mayo Japan while looking into the camera.

The ambassador’s invitation to young Indians to come to Japan should not come as a surprise as, currently, this group makes up less than 1% of the country’s student population. This stands in stark contrast with many Western countries, where Indians are among the biggest cohort of international student.

Japan has been expanding its outreach and easing its visa policies to attract more Indian students to its universities. However, a different trend emerges when looking at the educational choices of second-generation Indian migrants, i.e., those already living in Japan. Despite being raised in the country, they are more likely than their counterparts in North America, Europe and Australia to leave Japan for higher education.

This implies a significant loss of resources for the Japanese economy as it is unable to reap the full potential of second-generation migrants. It is also unfortunate for universities, many of which are struggling with a shrinking pool of Japanese students due to demographic decline.

Through a series of interviews with members of the Indian diaspora, we found that these migrants differ significantly from other foreign cohorts in Japan when it comes to their educational preferences. Also, they are perhaps more similar to their counterparts in India — the potential students that Japan is trying to attract — in terms of education and training.

For example, children of the Indian diaspora tend to study not in Japanese public schools but in private English-medium institutions, including legacy international schools. There are two big Indian international schools in Tokyo — the India International School in Japan and Global Indian International School — with a total of six campuses across the city (and an annual fee ranging from ¥600,000 to ¥1.6 million). Both institutes cater to the strong demand of the Indian diaspora by offering English-medium education and a choice of Indian and international curricula.

And as the diaspora expands — with currently about 50,000 Indians residing in Japan, a number that has doubled since 2007 — the school offering continues to grow.

Globally, the Indian diaspora has high rates of college enrollment. For instance, in the United States, Indians constitute 6% of the population but comprise 21% of university students. Why, then, is the situation so different in Japan? Our research suggests big demand and supply mismatches in university programs, a lack of information and outreach, high school training gaps and low community assimilation as key factors limiting enrollment.

University programs

There is a strong demand by Indian students to pursue degrees in computer science, engineering and medicine, often due to familial and peer group influence. The first generation of highly skilled Indian migrants with degrees in technology and engineering witnessed a huge growth in their incomes — a factor that strongly influences parents’ inclination toward encouraging their children to pursue these fields.

However, a lack of English programs in these subjects in Japan creates a mismatch between high demand and low supply. For example, when Darshan Shivakumar, who is currently studying computer science in California, was searching for computer science programs in English, he found none at top universities in Japan. A quick search of the Japan Student Services Organization shows around 150 bachelor programs in English nationwide, but little or no choice in medicine, dentistry or interdisciplinary, “blended” degrees such as those that combine economics and internet technology.

Students also cite the lack of supporting infrastructure such as library services, mental health counseling and clubs to assist international students in English programs. Jasveen Dua, a liberal studies student at a top private university in Japan, told us that a “friend wanted to join the English debate club but couldn’t as the instructions were only in Japanese.”

Training and assimilation gaps

Issues around language often start even earlier on. Emphasis on Japanese language proficiency remains quite low at Indian international schools, with the language gap comparable in magnitude to English language learning at Japanese public schools.

To fill the gap, Indian students sometimes decide to enroll in Japanese language courses outside of school. Several of the students we interviewed stated that their Japanese proficiency was at the JLPT N4 or N3 level. However, they acknowledged the stark difference between passing the JLPT exam versus communicating fluently in social and academic settings.

Lack of Japanese language proficiency may keep Indian diaspora children in bubbles that limit not only their university choices but also their general assimilation into Japanese society. For second-generation Indians, the resultant segregation is a disservice that requires school-level intervention. For example, Chinmay Kulkarni, an engineering student in Kanto, says: “While I have N2 level Japanese, I realized that passing the exam and conversing in the language were two different things. My high school should have prepared me better.”

High school outreach

In bridging the gap between high school and college education, Japanese universities have also been slow in promoting their programs at international schools. Hetal Zaveri, whose daughter went to study in Hong Kong, told us that in 2019, they rarely saw Japanese universities at college fairs on school campuses in Japan and therefore were not even aware of the options available.

The low outreach also creates an information vacuum and misconceptions about the environment at Japanese universities. Vandana Haldia, whose children studied in the United Kingdom and the U.S., wanted her children to get exposure to an international environment and thought this could not happen in Japan.

However, the situation has improved in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period. Based on our interactions with school counselors, we have found that in recent years, between 60% to 75% of their Indian students have chosen Japanese universities. Mithula Srikanth will soon be joining a science program at a national university in Japan. “My high school played a big role in the decision. They have been encouraging us to study in Japan,” she said.

Creating high school and university partnerships for application support, counseling and credit transfer programs can really benefit prospective students. Shriyan Shekhar said that he got a credit transfer from his high school in Tokyo that will enable him to graduate a year earlier from his course in computer science, which he undertook not in Japan, but in Hong Kong.

Japanese universities are also gradually catching up and improving campus facilities for international students. Keshavi Joshi, who is studying engineering in Kansai, said she finds the college environment quite comfortable “as all information is available in English and Japanese.”

Local acceptance

Another challenge is overcoming the process of “othering” generally faced by foreigners in Japan, with students pointing to easier assimilation in Western countries. For example, Vanshita Singh, who recently graduated in cancer biomedicine from a London university, chose to remain in the British city. She mentioned that after living in the U.K. for a few years, “the community starts seeing you as ‘British,’ unlike Japan,” therefore providing a sense of belonging — though Singh admitted that she appreciates the overall ease of living in Japan.

Factors like steep tuition fees, high dependency on teaching assistants and visa and safety concerns may pull students away from countries like the U.S. and U.K. and toward Japanese universities. However, despite a rise in Indian students’ interest in undertaking higher education in Japan, demand-supply mismatches result in a subpar outcome. And general concerns about the choices available, lack of exposure to an international environment and assimilation issues hold them back.

Most of the students we spoke to aspire to pursue a master’s degree and work for a global company. Will they choose Japan? Will Japan be able to capitalize on the potential labor force gains offered by second-generation migrants, especially as their ranks increase in the future?

The answer does not, for now, seem obvious. All that can be advised is that Japanese decision-makers factor in such considerations when tracing the country’s long-term immigration policy.