Japan accredits new university departments to boost international recruitment

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has announced the accreditation of ten new departments as ‘International Competitiveness Driving Departments.’ This designation is granted to institutions with robust systems for internationalization, including the acceptance of foreign students. As a special measure, these accredited departments are permitted to exceed their standard enrollment capacities to facilitate the recruitment of high-achieving international students.

The newly accredited institutions include ten departments across three universities: the Faculties of Engineering and Agriculture at Tohoku University, the School of Science and Technology and the School of Informatics at the University of Tsukuba, and the Faculties of Letters, Education, Law, Economics, Engineering, and Information Science at Hiroshima University.

With this latest round of accreditation, the total number of recognized departments across these three universities has reached 21. This follows the initial accreditation phase in 2025, which included various faculties from the same three institutions.