The Nippon Foundation, Dwango Get Japanese Education Ministry’s Green Light for Establishing Online University in April 2025 (2)

ZEN University, which The Nippon Foundation and Dwango, a major Japanese information technology and media company, are scheduled to open in April 2025, will offer both video-streamed regular classes and extracurricular programs.

Students can choose from pre-recorded on-demand classes, and live video classes, which provide an opportunity to learn in real-time the latest in industry research, global trends and more.

Unlike high school education, university-level education goes beyond textbooks, requiring students to gather information, interpret it, and contemplate its application to society. Through the interdisciplinary study of six key disciplines crucial for the intelligent information society－mathematics, information, culture and thought, society and networks, economy and markets, and digital industries－students will develop essential tools to stay ahead, including a universal perspective, critical thinking, and information utilization skills.

With only one faculty, the Faculty of Social Informatics, the university will offer 279 subjects. By the time it opens in April 2025, ZEN University will have prepared a total of 6,480 10-minute videos, allowing students to freely choose their preferred subjects.

The university is also committed to enhancing students' future practical skills through industry-government-academia collaboration.

Its regional and corporate collaboration programs and study abroad programs, including visits to overseas universities and IT companies, are designed to be as affordable as possible for students, with The Nippon Foundation’s network and financial support. This approach reflects our desire to encourage participation from a broad spectrum of students, enabling more individuals to join.

To thrive in a global society, they need not only language skills but also the ability to communicate with people of diverse backgrounds. Experiencing different cultures and values broadens their prospects after graduation.

ZEN University’s overseas programs are as follows:  

(1) Boston English and Cross-Cultural Experience Program (U.S.A.)
This program in Boston offers English language training and opportunities to learn about local business and culture. Through project presentations and field trips, students can gain valuable cross-cultural experiences. It is designed to be enjoyable even for those studying abroad for the first time.

(2) Silicon Valley Corporate Visits and Entrepreneurial Exchange Program (U.S.A.)
This program offers visits to IT and startup companies in Silicon Valley, as well as opportunities to interact with local entrepreneurs and innovators. It aims to deepen students’ understanding of the U.S. IT industry and startup ecosystem, while broadening their career options. This program is ideal for students eager to take on new challenges and explore diverse career paths.

(3) Summer Session Programs in California (U.S.A.)
Experience summer sessions at U.C. (University of California) Los Angeles and U.C. Berkeley alongside local students through programs provided by the Study Abroad Foundation (SAF) which supports Japanese and other Asian students who want to study abroad.

We also plan to arrange for ZEN University students to interact with some 150 students of Minerva University of San Francisco when they come to Tokyo in the fall of 2025. The Nippon Foundation signed an agreement with the U.S. university, ranked in 2022 and 2023 as the world’s most innovative university, to make the Japanese capital one of the institution’s six global rotation cities where they visit in cohort and study each semester.

According to the 2021 statistics compiled by the Education Ministry, the percentage of students who go on to university in Japan stood at around 60% nationally, but there was a wide discrepancy between urban and rural regions－75.1% in Tokyo and 38.5% in Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan.

I sincerely hope that many of those students, who might otherwise give up on pursuing higher education due to financial reasons or the absence of universities in their region, will apply to ZEN University and gain access to affordable, high-quality education wherever they want and at their own pace to earn their degrees.

The new distance university is poised to be in the forefront of narrowing the regional gap in education in Japan and contribute to helping revamp sluggish local economies.
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