Transfer from Overseas University (2)

Foreign Credential Evaluations (in general)

Q: If a student completes 11 years of primary and secondary education in a country that has 11 years of basic education and completes the first year of university in that country, is it possible for that student to transfer to the second year of a Japanese university?

A: The admission requirement in Japan is, in general, based on the duration of a curriculum. This is based on the following idea: it is difficult to verify the substantial equivalence of school education between Japan and foreign countries. On the other hand, in order to ensure the connection between Japanese and foreign school education, for the sake of convenience, a person who has completed 12 years of school education in a foreign country is considered to have received the same level of school education as in Japan, and is allowed to admit to a Japanese university, etc.

However, once a student has enrolled in a university and acquired student status, it is necessary to treat them according to their legal status. Therefore, in this case, since they have already entered a foreign university, they are eligible to transfer to a Japanese university.

The next issue is determining to which year the student is eligible to transfer. Although there are no legal provisions regarding the year in which transfers are accepted, Japanese universities have legal requirements for graduation; therefore, the year in which a transfer student is accepted must be decided based on the student's year of enrollment at the original university, while considering the balance between the number of credits required to graduate and number of credits recognized as previously acquired.

In this case, since the student has already completed their first year at the foreign university, if they were to transfer to a four-year Japanese university, they would need to be accepted to either the first or second year.

(The content of this Q&A is quoted from the University Admission Qualifications Guide ver.2 written by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. NIC-Japan produced this English translation.)