Japan's Initiatives to Enroll Indian Students: Challenges and Opportunities Asia-Pacific Journal of Social Science Introduction Special Issue No.3, December 2012 ISSN 2229-5801(Print) / ISSN 0975-5942 (Electronic) “The emergence of a postmodern paradox at the dawn of the new century: while the global © International Society for Asia-Pacific Studies [ISAPS] economy unleashes powerful forces that produce larger and more diverse flows of migrants from developing countries (market penetration and its associated structural transformations), it simultaneously creates conditions within developed nations that Japan's Initiatives to Enroll Indian Students: Challenges promote the implementation of restrictive immigration policies (greater inequality and and Opportunities segmented unemployment).” -- Douglas S. Massey. G. Jayachandra Reddy International education is another form of European and the two World Wars. By the end of Director, Centre for Southeast Asian and Pacific Studies, Sri Venkateswara University, migration in the modern world. Historically, the 20 Century the dynamics of migration has Tirupati-517502, A.P., India Email: [email protected] there are different patterns of migration and key entirely changed and globalization has emerged factors which influenced such migration. The as a new vehicle for such migrations. Though migration has a great role in changing the ethnic there are arguments that globalization has Abstract compositions of different countries of the world. accentuated much economic differences, which Irrespective of conceptual differences or similarities, the concepts like “globalization” and For instance, the migration of Indians (Indians made the people (skilled or unskilled) to move “internationalization” are perceived as main drivers in promoting “international education”. On the were brought to Fiji during British colonization of country to country. However, while the other hand, the emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is viewed as a India for sugarcane cultivation) to Fiji led to a unrestricted movement of goods and capital is potential factor to augment the opportunities of international education. Of course, countries like the conflict between Fijians and Indo-Fijians. The accepted almost without qualification, the US, Germany, the UK and Australia are in the forefront in attracting the international students into most prominent in the history of migration may movement of labour tends to raise sensitive their higher education spectrum. Countries like China and India are the potential sources to get a good be the transatlantic slave migration.1 The political and sociological issues. Still, it is number of international students, because of availability of people who are inclined to go abroad for cataclysm of world war I and II has its imprints on necessary to recognise that migration can never higher education and employment. immigration to North America. Douglas S. be eliminated or even fully controlled. In fact, In the recent past, Japan has come up with more number of policies and strategies in its higher Massey, an American researcher, classified the with rising globalisation, migratory pressures education system to attract foreign students in large numbers. No doubt, in no way Japanese higher international migration into four categories like will most likely increase. The challenge for the education institutions or standards are inferior to any country, but Japan has failed in attracting mercantile period (1400-1800), industrial period international community will be to deal with this Indian students. Japan's inability to enroll foreign students in a big way cannot be solely attributed to in the early 19th Century, migration due to issue in the broader context of a coherent, human- Japan's being a non-English speaking nation. In Germany and France, which are also non-English outbreak of World Wars, and post industrial centred and human rights based response to speaking nations, the enrollment of foreign students has gone up by 12.3% and 11.9% respectively in migration in the middle of 1960s. globalisation. 2008. There is a clear difference between different International Organization for Migration (IOM) Japan has been specifically losing the biggest market of international students particularly from India. forms of migrations in the history. Much predicts that “the total number of international For instance, while 100,000 Chinese students joined Japanese educational institutions, Indian significance is attributed to the colonial migration migrants will approach 250 million by the year students number was as low as 600. system, it was not voluntary and moreover forced 2050. Such a prediction has to reflect many In 2008, the Government of Japan unveiled the "300,000 Foreign Students Plan," which envisaged by the rulers to move to the other countries, where probable factors. These include the effects of war, increasing the number of foreign students in Japan from the current 140,000 to 300,000 by 2020. In their labour services were in demand. War famine, drought and epidemics, the increasing this context, Japan launched a project called “Global 30” or “G30” aiming at creating a supportive migrations are another form of the most economic gap between rich and poor countries environment, for international students to study in Japan and to get high quality of education. It may unwanted for any country, notably during many and the differential between countries in which be mentioned that at the beginning of 2012, the Vice-President of University of Tokyo has launched an office in Bengaluru which may serve as an open shop for promoting the policy of G30 in India. With this 1 background, this paper attempts to analyze the challenges and opportunities for Japan which is The slave trade has a long history. The transatlantic slave trade was neither Africa's longest or largest but it has had a determined to tap Indian student market. significant impact on the make-up of current populations. As can be seen from the following statistics, the African slave trade was not just confined to the United States--its scope was very international. The transatlantic slave trade began in Keywords: Indian Students, Japan Institutions, Immigration, Employment Opportunities and 1442 when African slaves were sent to Europe (Portugal). In 1550 slaves were sent to the Caribbean. The vast majority of Higher Education. the international trade was carried out by non-U.S. enterprises. In fact, the African slave trade began before the United States was even founded. Britain was the nation most deeply involved 41% Portugal 29% France 19% Holland 6, US 3% Denmark 1% (Migration Patterns). Asia-Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, Special Issue No.3, December 2012, pp. 108-120 108 Asia-Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, Special Issue No.3, December 2012, pp. 108-120 109 Japan's Initiatives to Enroll Indian Students: Challenges and Opportunities Asia-Pacific Journal of Social Science Introduction Special Issue No.3, December 2012 ISSN 2229-5801(Print) / ISSN 0975-5942 (Electronic) “The emergence of a postmodern paradox at the dawn of the new century: while the global © International Society for Asia-Pacific Studies [ISAPS] economy unleashes powerful forces that produce larger and more diverse flows of migrants from developing countries (market penetration and its associated structural transformations), it simultaneously creates conditions within developed nations that Japan's Initiatives to Enroll Indian Students: Challenges promote the implementation of restrictive immigration policies (greater inequality and and Opportunities segmented unemployment).” -- Douglas S. Massey. G. Jayachandra Reddy International education is another form of European and the two World Wars. By the end of Director, Centre for Southeast Asian and Pacific Studies, Sri Venkateswara University, migration in the modern world. Historically, the 20 Century the dynamics of migration has Tirupati-517502, A.P., India Email: [email protected] there are different patterns of migration and key entirely changed and globalization has emerged factors which influenced such migration. The as a new vehicle for such migrations. Though migration has a great role in changing the ethnic there are arguments that globalization has Abstract compositions of different countries of the world. accentuated much economic differences, which Irrespective of conceptual differences or similarities, the concepts like “globalization” and For instance, the migration of Indians (Indians made the people (skilled or unskilled) to move “internationalization” are perceived as main drivers in promoting “international education”. On the were brought to Fiji during British colonization of country to country. However, while the other hand, the emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is viewed as a India for sugarcane cultivation) to Fiji led to a unrestricted movement of goods and capital is potential factor to augment the opportunities of international education. Of course, countries like the conflict between Fijians and Indo-Fijians. The accepted almost without qualification, the US, Germany, the UK and Australia are in the forefront in attracting the international students into most prominent in the history of migration may movement of labour tends to raise sensitive their higher education spectrum. Countries like China and India are the potential sources to get a good be the transatlantic slave migration.1 The political and sociological