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About The Center and This Website

Q: What kind of organization is Japan’s official National Information Center (NIC), the National Information Center for Academic Recognition Japan?

A: In December 2017, Japanese government acceded the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education (known as the Tokyo Convention). It aims to promote international mobility of students and academics between State Parties, by having each Party prepare systems to facilitate recognition of higher education qualifications for both advancing education and employment in another Party. This smooth recognition of higher education qualifications entails making it easier for host counties and their organizations to evaluate and approve evaluations of these qualifications.

The parties to the Tokyo Convention are required to establish and maintain a national information center (NIC) mainly for disseminating information about their own country’s higher education system, so that each Party can smoothly evaluate and recognize each other’s higher education qualifications.

Japan’s official NIC, the National Information Center for Academic Recognition Japan (NIC-Japan), was established within the National Institution of Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education (NIAD-QE) on September 1, 2019. It works to disseminate information both domestically and internationally about Japanese higher education system and qualifications granted, a list of Japanese higher education institutions, links for information about education systems and qualifications of other countries. The center also networks with NICs in other Parties and conducts relevant surveys and researches.

For a list of countries that are party to the Tokyo Convention, please see here.