Japanese school administrators’ experiences after the implementation of the Top Global University Project language policy

As a result of globalisation, many higher education institutions in Japan have made changes to their curriculum and administrative system to attract international students. The Japanese government has also carried out different policies to support universities across the country and accelerate their internationalisation process. The study focuses on the implementation of the 2014 Top Global University Project (TGUP) in 37 Japanese higher education institutions. School administrators were interviewed in relation to their experiences with policy implementation. After coding and analysing the interview data, three themes were selected for discussion a) the financial burden; b) the English policy for staff; and c) policy transmission within an institution. Bernstein’s notion of the pedagogic device was employed to analyse school administrators’ discourses concerning the policy. Findings revealed how the process of implementation has taken place and the issues affecting its proper execution. The study concludes that top-down relations of power and control, hierarchies, people’s ideologies, and management culture affect and delay the internationalisation process of higher education.