Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/33027

JaLCDOI : 10.14943/J.HighEdu.15.155

Internationalization is increasingly becoming one of the most important issues in higher education. Adoption of an international language, i.e. English, has been rapidly increasing in universities around the world. When Hokkaido University was established in 1876, its fi rst curriculum was developed by an American professor and all classes were conducted in English. At present the university’s medium of instruction is Japanese and 90% of the international students, who account for 4% of the total student population, attend classes taught in Japanese. The remaining 10% of the international students enroll in the two graduate programs where the medium of instruction is English. Like most Japanese universities, the main reason why Hokkaido University introduced programs in English with the provision of scholarships was to attract excellent international students. At the Graduate School of Engineering, the use of English as a medium of instruction in its graduate program has played an important role in internationalization of the education itself.