Japan Private Universities to Get Funds to Remake Themselves Research Hubs; Govt to Designate ‘Hub Universities’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:26 JST, June 30, 2025

The education ministry is planning to designate private universities that achieve excellent research results “hub universities for research” and provide these entities with the financial assistance needed for facility development and staffing, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry aims to begin issuing these designations in the 2026 academic year and hopes this will lift the overall research capabilities of private universities and boost their international competitiveness. It is arranging to include the necessary expenses in its budget requests for fiscal 2026.

Private universities that conduct research in biotechnology, quantum technology and other fields where rapid growth is expected will be candidates for the new designation. The government assistance would enable private universities to develop state-of-the-art research facilities and possess research capabilities on a par with national universities leading the way with their achievements. “Hub universities” would also be used as locations of joint research with other private universities, which could help improve the research capabilities of private universities across the board.

The financial assistance will be allocated mostly through existing government grants for private universities. Among these grants, the government is considering providing recurrent expenditure subsidies, which are used to cover personnel and other expenses, and facility development subsidies in an integrated manner.

In recent years, private universities have poured considerable resources into lifting their research capabilities. In the 2024 academic year, private universities were awarded funds under the government’s grants-in-aid for scientific research in 24,310 cases, a 160% increase from 20 years earlier. A total of ¥45.5 billion was distributed, a 120% increase in the same time frame. However, these figures were dwarfed by national universities, which were awarded such grants in about 40,000 cases, receiving a total of ¥135.3 billion.

State subsidies for developing facilities needed to conduct research at private universities have actually been decreasing. According to the Japan Association of Private Universities and Colleges, a total of about ¥5.3 billion was given to these entities in the 2024 academic year, less than half of the about ¥11.8 billion awarded in the 2010 school year. In the 2022 academic year, this equated to an average of about ¥8,000 per student at a private university, less than 5% of the ¥172,000 given per student at national universities.

The association urged the government in March to bolster support and take other steps to help strengthen research capabilities in fields the government considers especially important, such as science, engineering and agriculture.