Japan’s higher education has been experiencing the most historically drastic and rapid changes in the composition of its student body. The distribution of college students in Japan is now undeniably much more diverse, due to several factors including universal access to higher education, internationalization initiatives led by MEXT, and multiple admission options. Consequently, it has become vital for HE institutions in Japan to develop a systematic means of academic assistance for students. However, these institutions often undergo internal struggles in this developmental process because academic support was considered, until recently, to be each faculty member’s individual role, practiced at their discretion, for which precedent, prior research, and/or practice is rare. This chapter will re-recognize the significance of infrastructure necessary for students’ academic support while discussing possible new models of efficient academic support toward fruitful relationships between a diverse student body and college staff and faculty in Japanese HE. For comparison, the academic support system in US HE will be analyzed and quoted as appropriate.

Introduction

MEXT publishes an annual statistics report on all legally recognized schools, from elementary level to higher education, the School Basic Survey, or Gakkō Kihon Chōsa. According to the report published in 2018, for the academic year of 2017–2018, about 1,062,000 students graduated from secondary education institutions. Among them, 582,000 entered higher education institutions—for either two or four years, as of April 2018. Consequently, the ratio of secondary education graduates entering higher education marked 54.8%. It is, hence, appropriate to conclude that Japan’s higher education is already at the “universal access” stage, consistent with Martin Trow’s definition.

Historically, the student selection and entrance processes in Japan’s higher education were defined as a clear cohort system. Applicants were selected by entrance examinations (nyūshi), and the number of students to be admitted directly into a particular major (gakka) and faculty or college (gakubu) was strictly controlled and capped by the universities and, ultimately, by MEXT who controls distribution of appropriation. When Japan’s higher education was still at the “elite access” and “mass access” stages, this selection and cohort system brought one significant benefit—a high average standard of students’ quality. Each university was able to accept students with suitable academic qualifications and was still able to secure sufficient enrollment numbers to maintain standards of educational activities, university operations, and financial stability.