What is IAU

Institutions of higher education all over the world are facing the pressure to internationalize their operations and academic programs, to enhance its competitiveness in an international education market. The first part of this chapter presents a review of national policy to incentivize the internationalization of higher education in Japan since 1980s. The second part introduces internalization initiatives of Hokkaido University in the last decade. Under the initiative of the president, university formulated its vision of “Hokkaido University, contributing to the resolution of global issues” in the “Future Strategy for the 150th Anniversary of Hokkaido University,” a blueprint for drastically reforming the university. In the 2014 fiscal year, a strategy to further internationalize education, “Hokkaido Universal Campus Initiative” was chosen by MEXT for the “Top Global University Project.” The author analyzes Hokkaido University's internationalization progress, focusing on the strengths and activities of major projects and the changes in the overall management.