The University of Tokyo will open a new undergraduate faculty, the Faculty of Value Creation, in September 2027 — its first in about 70 years. All classes will be taught in English, and the five-year bachelor's and master's program combines design methods with expertise from the university's other faculties, according to the university's description.
A group of students wants the plan withdrawn. The Tokyo University Faculty of Letters Student Volunteer Conference posted on X: "It is not too late. Withdraw it." The group objects to the plan's consistency with the fee increase decided in 2024 and to cuts in places at existing faculties.
A fee rise and a costly new faculty
The group grew out of a 2024 body formed after reports on the university's fee increase, and it now discusses campus issues with fees at the center. In September 2024 the university decided to raise annual tuition for undergraduates entering from the 2025 academic year to 642,960 yen from 535,800 yen, citing improvements to the education and study environment. It also announced expanded support, including full tuition waivers for Japanese undergraduates from households earning 6 million yen or less.
Students and faculty questioned the new faculty from the start, a representative of the group said. "What has been strongly felt among students and faculty since then is the contradiction with the fee increase plan," the representative said. "They say the university is raising fees because its finances are in crisis, yet it is spending an enormous budget to open a faculty with a residential requirement — for the first year only, optional after that — and overseas faculty hires. Isn't that a contradiction?"
The representative also criticized the university's website for the faculty, saying the content was unclear and sloppy. "It was full of non-academic katakana words, like a dubious consultancy, and the reaction was, 'Is this really scholarship?'"
The new faculty will admit 100 students a year. Places at existing faculties will be reviewed to accommodate it: the Faculty of Letters will lose 53, the Faculty of Agriculture 40 and the Faculty of Medicine 14.
Doubts over the internationalization push
The university has sought designation under the education ministry's International Research University program, which uses a university fund to build world-class research universities. Tokyo did not make the list of candidates in the first round, and its application is still under review in the second.
The representative welcomed more international students as a gain for campus internationalization, but questioned the faculty's academic grounding. "As the name 'Faculty of Value Creation' suggests, the academic field is largely unclear," the representative said. "Speculation has circulated among students since 2024 that this is a forced internationalization measure to win the designation." The representative added: "Is it even legitimate to create a division at a national university that is not established as an academic field? There are many questions."
The debate comes as the university faces scrutiny on other fronts, including the opacity of the process that selected its first female president and a series of scandals at the medical school.