Higher education in a depopulating society: Survival strategies of Japanese universities

Internationally and domestically, depopulation and the decrease of student enrollment caused are becoming an issue of interest in higher education, especially in regions such as east Europe, south Europe, and East Asia. This article analyzes strategies of Japanese universities to tackle depopulation issues in Japan. The 18-year-old bracket population has been halved for the last quarter century, and steep depopulation currently occurs in Japan. Such demographic changes strongly affect the Japanese higher education system. Through document and secondary data analysis, five major strategies were identified: subject diversification; merger (vertical and/or horizontal integration); campus relocation; take-over by local authorities; and closure. From these findings, a framework to describe the strategic decision-making of Japanese universities that consisted of environmentally determined exogenous factors, endogenous factors of university, and strategic options in managing the contraction of student enrollment was proposed. Finally implications on each strategy were discussed both in domestic and international contexts.