Japan's college students could drastically decrease; even dropping by 20% in 2050. This prediction was shared by the Japanese education ministry, MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). 

Japan's College Students Could Drop by 20%

(Photo: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images) University students attend a job fair hosted by Works Japan Inc at Sangyo Kaikan on February 19, 2012, in Kyoto, Japan. About 30 leading international Japanese companies take part in the job fair and over thousand international students attend special seminars and lectures on job opportunities.

According to Nikkei Asia's latest report, Japan's education ministry predicted that there will only be around 490,000 college students by 2050. 

This is roughly 130,000 less compared to the number of students who entered universities in 2022. But, there's a chance that there will be more than 500,000 Japanese college students after 2040. 

Although it is higher than the first prediction, it is still lower than the overall number of university students in 2022, which is around 630,000. 

Japanese officials got this prediction after taking the number of 18-year-olds and multiplying it by the percentage expected to enter higher education. 

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research's computation also added the predicted number of foreign students. 

If the Japanese education ministry's prediction about the number of college students comes true, it would make the country's youth population crisis worse.  

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Japan's Youth Population Crisis

(Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images) College students arrive to attend the Mynavi Shushoku MEGA EXPO at the Tokyo Big Sight on March 8, 2015, in Tokyo, Japan. 70,000 job-seeking students are expected to attend the two-day career fair with 1230 companies participating. Under new rules starting this academic year, companies are allowed to conduct recruiting activities from March 1 onward.

One of the main solutions for Japan to solve the decreasing number of college students is to attract more foreign enrollees.

Japanese officials said that universities and other educational institutions should make an effort to attract more students from abroad, especially those in other Asian countries. 

Erudera, a global education search platform, stated that Japan aims to host 400,000 international students by 2033. 

The Japanese government wants to lure them to stay and work in the country after studying. To do this, Japan said it will support international students while and after studying by offering more internship programs.  

This effort was confirmed by the Japanese government in Mar. after unveiling the new educational program during a meeting of the Council for the Creation of Future Education.  

If Japan's plan works, it would really help the aging population of the country. Aside from increasing the number of students, a new childcare program was introduced as well by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. 

As of writing, the birthrate of Japan is still dwindling. If the country wants to solve this problem, then more efforts are still needed.  

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