Mar 02 (Japan Times) - Concern is growing among university officials in Japan that foreign students eager to study in the country may ditch their plans due to the government’s slow move to open the borders amid the coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, the government raised the daily cap on the number of nontourists allowed into the country, including Japanese nationals returning home, by 1,500 to a total of 5,000 as part of easing its border controls, which have been criticized as closed-door policy measures.
However, some 152,000 foreigners have been granted student visas but have yet to be permitted to come to Japan.
According to the Immigration Services Agency, 842 foreign students entered the country in December last year. But there were only 12 new arrivals among them.
At Waseda University, the number of enrolled foreign students fell to 6,762 in the school year that ended in March 2021 from 8,350 the previous year.
The number of foreign students admitted in the 2021 school year ending this month is believed to come to around 300, university officials said.
