An early, major project in this series started in 2009, when the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) began a program to encourage foreign students to study at Japanese universities.
The program was concluded in 2014 and replaced with the Top Global University project,[4] which shifted the focus off English-language offerings, but still maintains strong implications of increased English medium instruction in Japanese universities.
[1] Along the way, other major projects included The Re-inventing Japan project (2011-present), which was designed to promote Japanese students going abroad and international students coming to Japan, and foster globally-active human resources (known as global jinzai); and the Go Global Japan project (2012-2016), which was designed to encourage Japanese students to study abroad.
[2] The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) adopted a two-track approach, ranking institutions in one of two categories.
In September 2014, the ministry announced the selection of 37 schools for the Top Global University Project.