National Universities Seek Private Buyers for Facility Naming Rights; With Government Subsidies Decreasing, Schools Turn To Corporate Sponsors for Funds

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, February 7, 2025

National universities, facing a harsh financial situation due to decreased government subsidies for their operation, have been increasingly selling naming rights for on-campus facilities to private firms.

Such moves are intended to secure financial resources for the schools, which can be used to pay for facility renovations and other expenses. However, it can be difficult to set appropriate prices for facility naming rights, and universities are struggling to sell the naming rights at high prices.

The Tokyo University of the Arts has set a minimum fee of at least ¥60 million per year for 5 years or longer for the naming rights to its 1,100-seat Sogakudo Concert Hall at its Ueno Campus in Taito Ward, Tokyo.

This is the first time this university has sought such a deal. They began soliciting applications October last year. A nickname chosen by the university’s selected corporate sponsor will be displayed on the exterior walls and information boards.

The concert hall, completed in 1998, is an iconic facility for the university, equipped with a pipe organ and a movable auditorium ceiling, allowing the acoustic characteristics of the hall to be adjusted.

However, as the facility has aged, it has developed numerous problems, prompting the university to plan a large-scale renovation, aimed to start in fiscal 2028. Because of rising prices, however, the renovation costs are expected to be ¥1 billion more than originally estimated.

The naming rights fee will be used to cover the renovation costs. The university’s President Katsuhiko Hibino has called for corporate sponsorship, saying, “The fee was set based on the examples of other music halls. We ask for cooperation in fostering our students who will lead the music world in the future.”

Name recognition raised

Japan’s national universities, which became independent corporations in fiscal 2004, have been under pressure to secure their own financial resources. The subsidy from the government for research and other operating expenses has been cut by 13% over the 20 years since then.

As of March 2023, 36 of the 86 national universities were making efforts to sell facility naming rights, according to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.

The fiscal 2022 tabulation showed that 29 universities had received a total of about ¥160 million through 108 contracts, whose values were reckoned to range from several hundred thousand yen to several million a year.

In 2024, several universities including Tohoku University, Iwate University and Nagasaki University sold facility naming rights for the first time, while Shinshu University and some others began publicly soliciting sponsors.

For private firms, acquiring naming rights will not only have the effect of generating publicity among students but also offer the advantage of making the company look good to society as a whole by showing that they support education.

Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITech) sold naming rights for the first time last March to Seiko Epson Corp., a major precision equipment manufacturer based in Nagano Prefecture.

The university now has a study space for students nicknamed “Epson Studio.” NITech has concluded contracts with companies for a total of seven facilities thus far, and is still seeking corporate sponsors for other facilities. NITech has not disclosed the fees for naming rights, but an official of the facilities planning section said, “We would like to make this a stable source of funds for us.”

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd., a Tokyo-based company which takes great interest in recruiting female engineers, signed a naming rights contract with Nara Women’s University in 2022, the same year the university established its Faculty of Engineering.

The following year, the number of its students who registered on Sumitomo’s recruitment website increased 50% from what it had been a year earlier. An official in charge of public relations at the company said, “Students’ recognition of our company has increased.”

No sponsors for expensive rights

On the other hand, deals for expensive naming right items have conspicuously been hard to conclude.

Kyushu University has been seeking a buyer for the naming rights to its Central Library, at an annual fee of ¥100 million, since the facility opened on its Ito Campus in Fukuoka in 2018. But no corporate sponsors have come forward thus far.

Saga University also publicly sought a buyer for the naming rights to its art museum, for a minimum annual fee of ¥20 million, from fiscal 2013. The university lowered the fee to ¥5 million in fiscal 2024, but no sponsors have yet come forward.

In the same fiscal year, the university increased the number of target facilities to 188, including lecture rooms and parking lots, with the minimum fees set at ¥100,000 or ¥200,000, and succeeded in signing eight contracts.

An official of the university said, “We achieved this by reexamining the contract from a company’s perspective.”

Teruo Hatakeyama, associate professor of human geography at Naruto University of Education, who is knowledgeable about naming rights, pointed out, “Naming rights for university facilities, which are mainly used by students and faculty members, have less promotional effect than those for public facilities.”

He then stressed that “It is necessary to make the contract’s content attractive to companies, by, for instance, including carrying advertisements on the university’s homepage and implementing joint projects.