Japan to expand financial aid to non-Japanese students

Currently, the aid is limited to Japanese citizens and permanent or special permanent residents. (Photo: Shunsuke Ono via Unsplash)

Starting in April, Japan’s Ministry of Education is expanding the scope of its financial aid provisions for non-Japanese students' university education. The Ministry offers scholarships, loans, and tuition reductions or exemptions through the Japan Student Services Organization.

Currently, the aid is limited to Japanese citizens and permanent or special permanent residents. However, the Ministry has now decided to expand the eligibility to students with a ‘dependent’ status, which covers spouses and children of foreign workers in Japan. Those eligible must have graduated from elementary through high school in Japan, and intend to work in the country after graduating from university.

The Ministry estimates that there would be about 200 non-Japanese students eligible for the program every year.

The number of people living in Japan on dependent visa was about 228,000 in 2022, an increase of more than 100,000 from a decade ago.

Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) was founded on April 1, 2004, as a core institution to comprehensively implement various student support services for higher education in Japan.

It may be recalled that the Japanese government has set a target of having 400,000 foreign students studying in the country by 2033, hoping to encourage them to work in the country after they graduate. The government's future education panel revealed the goals, which include 500,000 Japanese studying abroad by the same year. According to the target, the government will consider support measures to encourage international students to remain in Japan after their studies.