Internationalization policy in Japanese university prospectuses

AbstractThis paper analyses international student prospectuses from twenty‐two Japanese universities involved in the Top Global University Program (TGUP) to examine how universities in Japan present and understand internationalization. International prospectuses were analysed using qualitative text analysis to generate a series of themes connected to university internationalization. Different categories of TGUP participant universities were compared to better understand the differences between how different participant types present and understand internationalization. The findings suggest that while there are differences between participant types and individual universities, overall, there appears to be a tension between understanding internationalization as an authoritative, university‐centred activity and as a student‐centric activity in which students are active participants. Furthermore, it found that although rankings are an important aspect of the TGUP, few prospectuses mentioned rankings. The paper suggests possible reasons for this omission based on the TGUP participant type. Finally, this study offers insights into how Japanese universities understand internationalization and position themselves as international institutions.