Mainland China's domestic academic literature on foreign issues can be regarded as a reference for its policymaking since the early stages of the "Reform and Opening Up". This investigation constructs a multi-theoretical framework for examining and interpreting mainland China's domestic academic narrative surrounding higher education…

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, this edited volume explores the changing landscape of International Student Education in Japanese universities and the impact on global student mobility. Through analysing a wide range of data, the book engages historical, cultural, linguistic and pedagogical contexts relating to higher education in Japan. With a…

The importance of human resources in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is increasingly recognized in Japan and other countries worldwide. This study considers the STEM human resources community as a cultural sphere and examines the factors that influence STEM competency elements in a sample of Japanese university students as…

The number of students expanding their academic programs to include learning experiences abroad had been, prior to the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus, steadily increasing over the past two decades. This mixed-method study investigates the cultural identification of short-term study abroad participants and its influence on their acculturation…

Learning strategies are important factors for students' academic success. Motivation and self-efficacy influence the choice and the use of specific learning strategies (Entwistle & Ramsden, 1983). In this study, we want to assess how these three factors and their interaction are determined by the cultural setting (eastern vs. western culture).…

This paper reports an attempt to enhance Japanese learners' Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) through an undergraduate English class in 2022. The students read essays on an American writer's experience living in Japan, exchanged thoughts, and gave individual presentations. They also learned and practiced discussion skills in the first…

This article examines the experiences of a group of Japanese study abroad students in response to the purposeful replication of a Japanese environment by the New Zealand-based institution where they studied. Data were collected from 12 students via interviews spread over approximately 20 months, and revealed that management provided specifically…

The current study is located among the body of language teacher identity research by focusing on the identities of pre-service language teachers in Japan. This study looks at how pre-service language teacher identities are situated among Japanese values and belief systems and investigates how participants are coping with disrupted language teacher…

This study explores Japanese students' perceptions of and experiences with peer review in English writing classes. While the benefits of peer review for second language (L2) students are generally acknowledged, some studies have claimed that students from Asian cultures are predisposed to not benefit fully from this process because they tend to…

This article introduces an empirical study of "Connected Learning" in a Japanese EFL classroom context, instantiated through the Bridging Activities pedagogical framework. Students considered their interests, made groups, and joined Reddit communities. Self-selected texts were then analyzed with rigorous teacher mediation. Students…

Given the criticism of the institutional practices of Japan's higher education institutions on international students' learning experiences, the study attempts to investigate why international students still chose to study at Japanese universities and whether they benefited from this experience. It also explores whether they benefit from this…

The Japanese higher education system has struggled with a demographic decline of the university-age population since the 1990s. The expected shrinkage of the overall consumer market due to ageing also significantly pressures Japanese enterprises to expand business in the global market outside Japan. Under these conditions, Japanese universities,…

In this paper, I reflect upon my journey of learning to do comparative education research over the last decade and half. It involves transnational moves from Japan, Canada, US, Australia and back to Japan where I encountered numerous 'others'. I use my story of a series of relocations as an entry point for theorising what I mean by 'negative'…

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a counseling modality that features values clarification interventions. However, a well-established ACT-consistent measure of values for practitioners and researchers is lacking. The present study, therefore, examined an exploratory measure called the Valued Time and Difficulty Questionnaire (VTDQ; Wilson…

Higher education around the world is undergoing serious transformations as a result of technological, social, and economic processes. Universities from various countries are trying to secure a competitive position for themselves on the international market for educational services. Currently thousands of universities from different countries are…