When it comes to having a genuinely international student body, many Japanese educational institutions aim to be, many claim to be, however very few actually are. Even many of the so called "international" universities have very few international students. NOTE! Yamasa is virtually the only APJLE accredited school with an admissions policy that deliberately emphasizes the importance of a diverse student intake - and perhaps the only one that has had the resources to consistently maintain it.

This is perhaps the largest difference between Yamasa and other schools. Our long term concentration on quality is assisted by our non-profit status and the strong support of the Hattori Foundation (established in 1919). As a result our excellent facilities and programs are complimented by the same attention to detail in regards to genuine language diversity.

THE FACTS: Many schools and university based Japanese Programs ("Bekka") will not mention it, but their student body will usually resemble the 2 charts below. The first chart shows the nationalities of all of the students in Japan with a 'Shugakusei' student visa. The second shows those of Yamasa. Figures are for April 2006. The data is provided in statistical format by the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. We have enclosed it in bar charts so that it is readily understandable.

Chart 1 of 2. Average nationality background of "Shugakusei" for APJLE accredited institutes nationwide.

As you can see from the chart above, the vast majority of schools recruit heavily from a very narrow range of countries. Most of the students are young, and many enrol via profit oriented commercial agencies and brokers. There are some programs where the majority of students are not ethnically Chinese, however most of these schools have a majority of students from one different language group instead. For example many commercial schools with Korean investors have the vast majority of their students recruited from Korea.

Most American program providers recruit students from US colleges, charge in dollars, and teach mostly in English. This is especially the case with many of the "Japan Centers" run by foreign universities - especially where their programs draw heavily upon the student body of affiliated universities and consortium members. The effect of recruiting from a narrow range of nationalities is then reflected in the range of native languages spoken by the students.

By most reports Yamasa is the only university or APJLE accredited program provider in Japan:

A) With no majority native language group AND
B) With large numbers of students from outside East Asia
C) That deliberately establishes language diversity.

Compare the figures above with those of Yamasa.

Chart 1 of 2. Nationality background of "shugakusei" student visa holders at the Yamasa Institute.

The Yamasa Institute is widely recognised as the exception. Our students come from all over the world and Japanese is usually the only common language they can use as a medium to communicate to each other in. The reasons for it include:

1) the fact that we have a wider range of university exchange links and full time International Office staff.
2) the fact that because we have a multinational support staff at Yamasa we are able to communicate directly with students from countries usually under-represented in Japanese institutions in their native language.
3) the fact that we have a more professional management system and are able to maintain our policies with highly experienced staff frequently seconded from the Hattori Foundation.
4) the fact that our greater degree of flexibility results in significant numbers of professionals who no longer have university links being able to enroll in our programs.

Meet some of our students...

Students enrolled in 2006 originate from: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Ireland, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA, Vietnam.

And for those of you into student statistics...

Largest regional source of students: European Union (26.17%)
Most common native languages: English, Chinese (Mandarin), German, Korean, Chinese (Cantonese)
Number of student visa holders: 113
Number of students in other programs: 328