Tokyo: The annual number of students entering university in Japan from 2040 to 2050 is expected to be about 500,000, some 130,000 fewer than in 2022, an Education Ministry report revealed.
Enrollment will be 510,000 or less after 2040 and is put at around 490,000 in 2050, down from about 630,000 last year, according to the projection submitted to a subcommittee of the Central Council for Education, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Ministry calculated future enrollment by taking the number of 18-year-olds expected by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, and multiplying that by the percentage expected to enter higher education and adding the predicted number of foreign students, according to officials.
Meanwhile, the number of 18-year-olds, which is on the decline, is seen hovering around 820,000 and 790,000 annually in 2040-2050.
The subcommittee is set to discuss responses to the declining enrollment, including a possible realignment of universities, as new admissions may fall below 80 percent of the total enrollment slots in some of the years in the projection period.
