Japan seeks to end living expenses aid to foreign doctoral students
KYODO NEWS - 2 minutes ago - 20:45 | All, Japan
Japan's education ministry plans to restrict living expenses support for doctoral students to Japanese nationals only, a panel proposal showed Thursday after parliamentary debate over foreign students accounting for over a third of recipients of the public grants.
The plan to abolish foreigners' access to living subsidies of 1.8 million yen ($12,400) to 2.4 million yen per annum is expected to take effect in fiscal 2027, pending approval from a committee.
According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 10,564 people received the subsidies in fiscal 2024, of whom 4,125, around 39 percent, were from overseas. Chinese nationals made up 76% of the non-Japanese cohort at 3,151 people.
In March, the findings were raised during a parliamentary session by a lawmaker who called for the funds to be limited to Japanese nationals in principle.
The government launched a support program in fiscal 2021 to boost the number of doctoral students by supporting their living and research expenses.
The proposal presented at a meeting of panel members says that the changes "reflect the program's aims to ease Japanese students' worries about their financial situations to enable them to advance to doctoral study," adding that many foreign students fund their education privately.
Foreign students will remain eligible for research support of up to 1.1 million yen under the program.
Related coverage:
U.S. to resume issuing int'l student visas, add tougher online checks
Japan draws up 100 bil. yen policy to attract foreign researchers
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
31 minutes ago
Ishiba Cautious about Expanding Ruling Coalition
Tokyo, June 29 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Sunday sounded cautious about expanding the ruling coalition between his Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. "A coalition should be formed after a certain level of agreement is reached on diplomacy, security and public finances," Ishiba said in a speech ahead of Thursday's start of the official campaign period for the July 20 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament. At a conference hosted by a private policy proposal group, Ishiba also expressed support for the idea of establishing a nonpartisan consultative body on social security reform. On measures against persisting inflation, he stated, "What is needed now is immediate effects," reiterating the need to provide a cash benefit of 20,000 to 40,000 yen per citizen, included in his party's election pledges. "We must secure financial resources for medical care, elderly care and pensions," he said, indicating a negative view about opposition proposals for lowering the consumption tax. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Kyodo News
an hour ago
- Kyodo News
50% want Japan ruling bloc to lose upper house majority: Kyodo poll
KYODO NEWS - 3 minutes ago - 18:59 | All, Japan Half of Japanese voters want Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition to lose its majority in the House of Councillors in next month's election, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday. The nationwide telephone poll conducted Saturday and Sunday found that 50.2 percent of respondents want the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito party to lose their upper house majority, while 38.1 percent want them to retain control following the July 20 election. The ruling coalition lost its majority in the lower house in the general election in October. The LDP is still the most popular party among voters as 17.9 percent said they will vote for it in the proportional representation segment, while 9.8 percent expressed support for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, 6.4 percent for the Democratic Party for the People and 5.8 percent for the Sanseito party. Asked what key election issue matters most in deciding which party or candidate to vote for, 31.9 percent of respondents cited measures against rising prices while 16.9 percent chose pension and other social welfare measures. To curb the negative impact of rising prices, the LDP plans cash handouts of 20,000 yen ($138) as an election pledge. In a question asking which is more desirable -- such handouts or a cut in the consumption tax -- as a measure to cope with inflation, 70.0 percent chose the tax cut while 23.8 percent preferred cash handouts. The approval rating for Ishiba's Cabinet stood at 32.4 percent while the disapproval rate was 57.8 percent. For the survey, 606 randomly selected households with eligible voters and 4,100 mobile phone numbers were called, yielding responses from 508 household members and 746 mobile phone users. Related coverage: Japan gov't asks operators to address disinformation before election Japan PM aims to retain upper house majority after July poll FOCUS: Tokyo rebuke puts Ishiba at risk in national election
Kyodo News
2 hours ago
- Kyodo News
50% want Japan ruling bloc to lose upper house majority: Kyodo poll
KYODO NEWS - 31 minutes ago - 17:01 | All, Japan Half of Japanese voters want Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition to lose its majority in the House of Councillors in next month's election, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday. In the nationwide telephone poll conducted on Saturday and Sunday, 38.1 percent of respondents said they want the coalition of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito party to retain their upper house majority following the July 20 election. Related coverage: Japan gov't asks operators to address disinformation before election Japan PM aims to retain upper house majority after July poll FOCUS: Tokyo rebuke puts Ishiba at risk in national election
