On September 30, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) announced the aggregated results by prefecture and designated city of the National Assessment of Academic Ability conducted in April for sixth-grade elementary school students (11–12 years old) and third-grade junior high school students (14–15 years old).
The subjects tested were Japanese language, arithmetic, and science for elementary students, and Japanese language, mathematics, and science for junior high school students. Based on the number of correct answers, students were categorized into four groups (A to D).

Overall, there were no major regional differences in student performance. However, the proportion of students in the lowest D group in the region with the highest ratio was 1.5 times higher than the national average and twice as high as in the region with the lowest ratio. More notably, the correlation between academic performance and socioeconomic status (SES)—measured in this survey by the number of books in a household as a proxy indicator for income and parental education—was stronger than the differences between regions. This trend was particularly pronounced in arithmetic and mathematics.

Where, then, do Japanese students stand globally?
According to the TIMSS 2023 (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), which surveyed approximately 360,000 fourth-grade students in 58 countries and regions and 300,000 eighth-grade students in 44 countries and regions, Japan ranked 5th in fourth-grade mathematics, 6th in fourth-grade science, 4th in eighth-grade mathematics, and 3rd in eighth-grade science. Although Japan’s ranking in science slipped slightly compared to the previous survey conducted every four years, its average scores in mathematics and science at the primary and lower secondary education levels remain among the highest in the world.

However, the picture changes sharply at the university level.
While nearly 60% of Japanese students advance to higher education, the number of master’s degree holders is only 592 per million people—just 13% of the figure in the UK and 23% of that in the US (NISTEP, FY2019).
In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, a global ranking published in the UK, even the University of Tokyo sits at 28th place, while Keio University falls in the 601–800 band, and Waseda University in the 801–1000 band.

A shortage of advanced human capital directly undermines national competitiveness.
Ryoji Noyori (Nobel laureate in chemistry, 2001) has stated that “the key to the healthy metabolism of society lies in dynamic equilibrium—that is, in the fluidity of its members.” He emphasizes the importance of encounters with diverse “others” and of cultivating curiosity about being different from the majority, warning against becoming absorbed in an insular and homogeneous society (CRDS Column No. 66).

Globally, there are approximately 5.6 million international students (as of 2020), but Japan hosts only about 4% of them. In contrast, the United States accounts for around 20%. As the U.S. moves toward imposing more restrictions on the free flow of knowledge and academic mobility, Japan has a unique opportunity to strengthen its education and research systems in advanced fields and elevate them to a truly global level.

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President
This Week’s Focus, September 28–October 2, 2025