The business of education

Japan’s higher education system is undergoing major changes due to oversupply and a falling birthrate, forcing many universities to merge, while others face bankruptcy or are taken over. Universities across the country are making desperate efforts to attract new students as admissions quotas fall.

However, one institution which remains a popular choice is Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ), the oldest American campus in Japan. Established in June 1982, TUJ has a total enrollment of 1,190 in its degree programs (undergraduate, MBA, Law School and TESOL), as well as 853 in non-degree programs and 1,111 in the corporate education program. Faculty consists of 40 full-time and 133 part-time teachers.

TUJ, whose home campus is in Pennsylvania, was designated as Foreign University, Japan Campus, by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in February 2005. TUJ operates out of two locations in Azabu and Mita and is looking to expand. It also has campuses in Osaka and Fukuoka where it offers graduate programs in TESOL.

Taking over as dean for the challenging times ahead is Dr Bruce Stronach. Born in Maine, Stronach graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from Keene State College in New Hampshire in 1974. He earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate in international relations in graduate studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Stronach has been in and out of Japan since 1976, most recently as president of Yokohama City University from April 2005. He became TUJ academic adviser as of Feb 1, 2008, and until March 30, he was still YCU president, before taking over as TUJ dean on April 1.

Stronach is an adviser to the Committee on Foreign Education Evaluation of the Beijing Municipal Academy of Education and Research. He has authored several books, among them “Japan and America: Opposites That Attract” (1988), “The Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture” (1989) and “Beyond the Rising Sun: Nationalism in Contemporary Japan” (1995).

Japan Today editor Chris Betros drops in at TUJ to hear more.

How did you end up in Japan?

I always say I’ve had two lives. From the time I was 9 until I was 25, I did manual labor. When I was 25, that was the first time I ever had a job that was 100% with my head. I had been a factory foreman. Then I was hired as a researcher by the Fletcher School, which eventually brought me to Japan. The old MITI was doing research on Kikkoman’s first major factory in the U.S. I spent a month at the factory researching how the local community and American workers were accepting the plant and working in a Japanese environment. I first came to Japan in 1976, working on a research project between Keio University and the Fletcher School. I’ve been back and forth between Japan and the U.S. ever since.

How would you describe TUJ’s image?

During its 25-year history, there have been various changes in the institution. Getting official recognition as a foreign university from the Japanese government in 2005 gave it a boost. The general public probably still doesn’t have a clear image of what we are, although in the corporate sector, there are a lot of people who do know us because our corporate education program is rather large. Certainly, in the academic area, there is a lot of understanding of what TUJ is.

How many nationalities do your students represent?

Some 40. This is one area that I want to develop further. Diversity is one of the points we have been stressing. For years, the Japanese government has been talking about increasing the number of foreign students in Japan. So far, about 70% of all foreign students in Japan are Chinese. What I want to see is an increase in the number of foreign students of other nationalities as well, so there is a real diversity of foreign students in Japan.

What is TUJ’s capacity?

We can go as high as we want to when it comes to everything but facilities. We are working in a couple of different directions to determine how we are going to expand our facilities in Minato Ward. For example, we are negotiating to develop an old unused elementary school.

What about increasing faculty?

As a tuition driven institution, we must increase enrolments first, then hire new faculty. Our faculty-student ratio of 20 is one of our strengths. It’s better than standard Japanese universities.

As dean, I guess you have to wear many hats – administrator, number cruncher and teacher, if you have time. How do you balance it all?

I do miss classroom time and haven’t actually taught for about 10 years. Being dean means I have to think about the entire institution. Once you become an administrator, you have to understand what your role is. If you have time to teach, that’s great.

It’s a business, yes, in that we have a budget and have to have a surplus in that budget every year. I am responsible for all elements of the operation. As much as an academic doesn’t like to hear this, the budget comes first. If you don’t have the money for the academic programs, you don’t have the programs. Running a business is really simple compared to running a university. Because you are creating this intangible for society and yet, you have to hit the bottom line and run it like a business. Marrying those two things together, something as difficult as producing education and research and doing it to budget is difficult.

Japanese universities are going through tough times. What effect will this have on higher education?

From an overall perspective, the decrease in the youth population hurts all universities. The thing I worry about most is not just the obvious demographics with fewer students chasing a set number of seats. It is the knock-on effect, which is that universities might dumb down and lower standards in order to attract students. That will have a ripple effect on everybody. Right now, Japanese universities are too easy on their students and I preached this many times when I was president at YCU. If the effect is to make universities even softer on their students, that is horrible for Japanese higher education.

What about for Temple?

First of all, the effect is especially drastic in the rural areas. Everybody still wants to come to Kanto for their higher education and Temple is drawing students from all over the country. The second thing is that in this kind of competitive atmosphere, we can be more competitive in approaching our niche market – those students who don’t want the same old Japanese education. Here they have a 100% English language environment. All of the things that Japanese universities are trying to do to reform their undergraduate education, we’re already doing. Education is what happens in the classroom. There are very few classrooms in Japan where students can interact with fellow students and faculty the way we do here.

How do you market Temple?

On a campus in the U.S., the biggest recruiting tool is campus visits. If you get a body on campus, the probability of that person enrolling is 50-60%. But in Japan, the most important thing in recruiting is word of mouth about the quality of education. If your students are happy and if you are running your organization correctly, happiness equates to getting a good education. If a student can say “I’m glad I am here,” that has a multiplier effect on siblings and friends.

Now that you are at TUJ, are you going to live in Tokyo?

I’m not moving to Tokyo because I love living in Yokohama. It’s a great lifestyle. I can bicycle from my apartment to Hayama beach in 40 minutes. I also like to play golf.

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