The Nippon Foundation, Dwango Open ZEN University with 3,380 Students Enrolled for Fully Online Education
Published on May 15, 2025
On April 1, The Nippon Foundation and Dwango Co., a major telecommunication and media company, opened ZEN University, which provides classes entirely online utilizing digital tools and artificial intelligence.
The institution’s hybrid entrance ceremony held in Tokyo on April 9 was attended by a total of 3,380 new students－3,300 online with a further 80 taking part in person after being chosen by lottery.
Of the total, new high school graduates accounted for 59% with those who have full-time jobs making up 22%. Those who graduated from "N High School” and “S High School,” online schools operated by Kadokawa Dwango Educational Institute of the Dwango group, accounted for 42% of the total.
By age, more than two thirds (69%) were teenagers with those in their twenties making up 18%. The oldest was 78.
Welcoming the students to the new university, ZEN University President Masato Wakayama said: "Please be open-minded, be aware of your connections with society, and take on new challenges without fear of failure. I hope that your four years of study at our university will help you realize your dreams and lead you to a rich and fulfilling future.”
The Nippon Foundation and Dwango agreed on the partnership to provide students with affordable, high-quality education and allow them to complete their degrees wherever they are and in their own time.
Recognizing that various factors such as household income and geographical location can prevent prospective students from seeking higher educational opportunities, ZEN University will provide a platform that aims to eliminate these barriers and contributes to equal access to education.
With this in mind, tuition has been set at 380,000 yen (about $2,569) per year, which is considerably lower than the average tuition fees for national universities (535,800 yen, or about $3,523) and private universities (931,000 yen, or about $6,297) in Japan.
Headquartered in Zushi City, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, ZEN University has a sole faculty, the Faculty of Social Informatics, where students can develop the skills necessary to thrive in the information society, aiming not only to utilize AI but to master it, the university said on its website.
Classes cross over six fields: mathematics, information, culture and thought, society and networks, economy and markets, and digital industries－allowing students to pursue education in both arts and sciences, as they desire. Taught by some 120 notable professors, more than 250 subjects are available. Classes will primarily consist of pre-recorded on-demand sessions accessible on the internet.
According to the 2022 statistics compiled by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the percentage of students who go on to university in Japan stood at 57.7% nationally, but there was a wide discrepancy between urban and rural regions－73.0% in Kyoto Prefecture in western Japan and 72.8% in Tokyo as compared with 46.3% in Okinawa Prefecture and 46.4% in Kagoshima Prefecture both in western Japan.
I believe that many students who might otherwise have given up on pursuing higher education due to financial reasons or lack of nearby universities have enrolled in ZEN University to access affordable, high-quality education at their own pace, wherever they are, and earn their degrees. I wish them all the best.
