This chapter focuses on the relationship between Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 and higher education. Higher education has traditionally been expected to play three significant roles: education, research, and social contribution. However, due to globalization, these societal roles and expectations are gradually evolving. There are two targets under SDG 4 that are directly related to higher education. Target 4.3 aims to “ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education, including university.” It is noteworthy that the target mentions not only accessibility to higher education, but also quality. Additionally, the Times Higher Education released the Impact Ranking and visualized a university’s global performance, which assesses universities according to the framework of SDGs. Japan was the most represented nation in 2019, highlighting Japanese universities’ active efforts to work on global issues. While various efforts have been made to achieve the indicators of SDG targets, the global impact of COVID-19 has provided a significant opportunity for the role of higher education to be reconsidered. Considering this background, this chapter introduces various activities and initiatives at Japanese higher education institutions, such as the Science and Technology ResearchPartnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), which promotes international joint research on global issues. Finally, this chapter presents the further expected roles and challenges for higher education in society through the indirect spillover effects on the other goals of the SDGs.
PurposeThis paper reviews the national and institutional internationalization activities in Japan's higher education sector and considers the extent to which these efforts have attempted to incorporate and/or contribute to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Design/methodology/approachThis paper was developed based on a review of available demographic data on internationalization in Japan (in both English and Japanese), a survey of recent scholarly literature on this topic and conversations with numerous faculty and staff members working on internationalization issues in a wide range of higher education institutions throughout the country.FindingsThere are substantial internationalization efforts being made at both national and institutional levels, yet scholars and practitioners of higher education question the extent to which genuine internationalization is occurring. Moreover, the metrics used to track internationalization are somewhat limited and the available data, in many cases, can be complicated to interpret. A bit of tension also exists in Japanese universities between those who support the movement to internationalize and those who see it as a passing fad, an intrusion on their academic freedom and/or as a guise for Westernization – a tension that some cite, along with language barriers and system misalignment, as a challenge to internationalization.Originality/valueNumerous scholars discuss the internationalization of higher education in Japan. The originality of this paper is in the comparison of Japan's higher education internationalization efforts to the movement to achieve the SDGs – both in Japan and as a global effort.
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