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Positive attributes stick to higher education internationalisation, and it is a policy paradigm with performative effects. Internationalisation draws on imagined virtuous flows of knowledge production and exchange, and is presented as an assemblage of detraditionalisation, expansiveness and epistemic and cultural opportunity for individuals, organisations and nation states. Policies target bodies, minds and affect, yet are presented as an unquestionable good in an imagined genderneutral, borderless, meritocratic and benign global knowledge economy. This paper explores the affective economy of internationalisation drawing upon interview data gathered in fifteen private, five national and eight public universities in Japan with thirty-four migrant academics and thirteen international doctoral researchers. We aim to contribute to internationalisation theory by exploring the sticky micropolitics of internationalisation in relation to affective assemblages, and how the gendered, racialised, linguistic and epistemic inequalities constituting academic mobility are frequently disqualified from discourse. Our discussion includes consideration of the Japanese policy context, the concept of affective assemblages, navigating gender regimes, precarity and linguistic imperialism. We conclude that the immaterial or affective labour that is required to unstick, install and maintain an internationalised academic identity and navigate the translations and antagonisms from everyday encounters with difference is substantially under-estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes a recent initiative of Japan's Ministry of Education, which aims to internationalize higher education in Japan. The large-investment project 'Top Global University Project' (TGUP) has emerged to create globally oriented universities, to increase the role of foreign languages in higher education, and to foster global human resources. The TGUP identifies 37 universities: 13 as 'top global universities' intended to compete in the top 100 university world rankings and 24 'global traction universities' intended to lead the internationalization of higher education in Japan. Despite the substantial funding behind this initiative, little research has been conducted to evaluate the potential impact of this policy on language planning in higher education in Japan. This paper addresses this gap in its exploration of the TGUP, including key changes from previous internationalization policies. It then presents an analysis of publicly available documents regarding the policy, collected from all 37 of the participant universities. Findings indicate a positive departure from older policy trends and the emergence of flexible, unique forms of English language education in Japan's universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to strengthen their international presence, universities pursuing a world-class status are striving to increase their internationalization. Internationalization implies a transformation of university governance, especially for universities in a non-English-speaking system such as Japan's. This paper examines the challenges of internationalization for Japan's top universities as a transformation process of these universities' governance. First, the historical background of Japanese higher education as an early front-runner in Asia is discussed, along with the dynamics of national identity and global trends. Second, a series of government-funded programs for research and internationalization are examined from the viewpoint of governance reform. The construction of 'world-class' universities not only implies concentrated financial investment but also a comprehensive transformation of university governance in a global context. The major challenges for top Japanese research universities in terms of maintaining and improving their international presence are also highlighted. This article suggests the importance of examining the historical and current context of university governance in East Asian higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study scrutinised the experiences of intercultural relationship development between international and domestic students at two Japanese private universities, which have contrastive degrees of commitment to internationalisation in regard to stated vision, curriculum, international student enrolment and languages of instruction. Kudo et al.'s (Higher Education, 77(3), 473–489, 2019) three-stage ecological and person-in-context conceptual framework was adopted to gain insight into the roles of institutional internationalisation and personal agency in intercultural relationship development. A thematic analysis of interview data from 32 students (14 domestics, 18 internationals) revealed that institutional internationalisation may play a relatively small role in promoting intercultural relationship development compared to students' agency. A detailed examination of the associations between three forms of agency (i.e. situated, cosmopolitan and creative) and three relational stages (i.e. interactivity, reciprocity and unity) led to the identification of cosmopolitan agency as a meaningful hallmark of intercultural relationship development. These findings call for future research aimed at identifying the environmental and individual conditions that are most conducive to the cultivation of cosmopolitan agency in both international and domestic students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the shifting environment of higher education, characterised by financial constraints, institutional competition and governmental steering, universities adopt a new stream of missions. In Japan, internationalisation and the acquisition of a global outlook have become a key strategy. The trend is endorsed through competitive public funding schemes, based on the belief that competition fosters so-called world-class universities. These schemes necessitate not only internationalisation of curriculum and research but also a wide range of projects and programs, which require talents that may not be readily found in the existing cadres of university workers. This empirical research assesses experiences and perceptions of project-based professionals in Japanese universities. It found unique ways in which ‘Specially appointed academic staff’ are given project and administrative responsibilities but with limited access to environment and/or support system for research. Discussions focus on impacts of such appointment on their academic career and explore how these institutional projects may be handled in regards to university organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is well known as a super-aging society, with a low birth rate, and has been ranked as one of the countries having the highest quality of healthcare system. Japan's society is currently approaching a major turning point with regard to societal and healthcare reforms, which are influenced by international trends and regional needs. Development of Japanese healthcare human resources, including medical students, is now expected to ride the wave of globalization, while resolving regional problems in the training and delivery of healthcare. Terms and global trends in medical education, such as outcome-based education, community-based education, reflective learning, international accreditation of medical education, and professionalization of educators are well translated into the Japanese language and embraced positively among the Japanese medical educators. However, these trends occasionally sit uncomfortably with cultural variations that are often a common approach in Japan; notably, "hansei" (introspection) and "kaizen" (change for the better). In the world facing a new era where people are unsettled between globalism and regionalism, Japan's future mission is to steer a balanced route that recognizes both global and regional influences and produce global health professionals educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs positioning theory to explore the experiences of adjunct foreign English language teachers (AFELT) in the Japanese university sector. The research is located in the broad internationalisation discourse and considers AFELT positions as ‘foreign’ teachers at a time when the Japanese university sector is aiming to increase internationalisation. The data were drawn from focus groups and interviews with 43 AFELT who between them were teaching across 66 universities in Kansai. Three subject positions emerged from their reflections on their experience: commodification, disempowerment and desideration. The usefulness of positioning theory to interrogate higher education internationalisation discourse is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the ongoing struggle of leading Japanese universities to elevate their positions in world rankings, and the perceived necessity of Japanese higher education to internationalize in order to achieve more favourable international recognition. The author discusses structural difficulties inherent in Japanese universities in establishing effective approaches for internationalization. Recognition of the necessity to pursue internationalization as seriously as the rest of the world is still very limited among Japanese universities. At the same time, quite different agendas are often implemented under the umbrella term 'internationalization', rendering the policy orientation vague. Immediate and practical approaches to changing the status quo in terms of global prestige and recognition among universities, academics and students include the suggestion that universities themselves should take a more active role in increasing opportunities for international exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]