Greetings from the President

Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) was founded on April 1, 2004, as a core institution to comprehensively implement a variety of student support services for higher education in Japan and marks its 20th anniversary this year. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your understanding and support thus far. The organization has been working towards a target (midterm objective) that had been given to it by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology with a five-year challenge and managed to mark its fifth term in April 2024.

Society is changing along with the rapid progression of science and technology, such as ICT and AI, resulting in significant changes in higher education and the lives of students pursuing such education. In addition, there are concerns that confiicts happening around the world, as well as a series of natural disasters in Japan, would have an impact on the lives of students that JASSO supports.

Under these circumstances, the roles to be fulfilled by JASSO, a national center for student support, are becoming increasingly important. We would like to, in collaboration with the government, universities, and other related organizations, work on further enhancing the following three pillars: Scholarship Programs for Japanese Students, Support Programs for International Students, and Student Support Programs.

First, with respect to the Scholarship Programs for Japanese Students, we largely expanded scholarship grants and implemented tuition fee reduction and exemption systems by establishing the New System for Higher Education Aid in April 2020 in addition to the existing scholarship loans (interest-free and interest-bearing loans). Furthermore, we expanded the New System for Higher Education Aid into the middle class as of April 2024. As measures to reduce the burden on students who find it dificult to repay scholarship loans, we have put the repayment reduction system, which becomes easier to use than ever before, into practice. We are preparing for the prompt operation of the Deferred Payment System for Tuition Fees for the postgraduate phase as well.

When it comes to Support Programs for International Students, we provide financial aid and information on

study-abroad topics both for international students looking to study in Japan and Japanese students studying overseas. Last fiscal year, along with the second stage of the TOBITATE! Young Ambassador Program, we started a support project for the formation of a student exchange base through which we aim to work to provide opportunities to study abroad for local high school students and to foster interest in studying abroad. As international exchanges prompted through partnerships among universities regain vitality, we will continue to promote international student exchanges by enhancing the variety of support programs for international students.

With regard to Student Support Programs, we conduct a survey on student life, as well as gathering to provide best practices in student support, helping train faculty and staff members at universities with focuses on providing career education and job support, and supporting students with disabilities. Based on the current trends in internships and job search and on the fact of increasing number of students with disabilities, we are also working on improving student support system at universities and other such institutions while utilizing online tools.

Operating in accordance with the principle of equal opportunity in education as set forth in the Constitution and the Basic Act on Education, we will continue to reinforce the framework of support that will allow motivated and capable individuals to obtain equal opportunities to study and lead meaningful student lives. We will work to improve the contents of our programs to cater to all students by making sure to adopt the point of view of users and carrying out information activities that are clearer and more carefully tailored towards students, parents, school officials, and citizens.

We respectfully ask that you continue to support and cooperate with us in the fulfilment of our mission.