Photo/Illutration Executives of Dwango Co. and the Nippon Foundation announce the tentative name of a new online university, “Zen University,” at a news conference in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on June 1. (Kohei Kano)

As an increasing number of students choose not to attend school in person, a large online university will be established in April 2025 to help them continue their education. 

The university, tentatively named Zen University, will have only one faculty but plans to enroll 5,000 students, the second most among the faculties of all universities nationwide.

Information technology giant Dwango Co. and the Nippon Foundation announced the online university on June 1.

They believe there is a need for a university that high school students graduating from online schools could attend.

It will comprise a single faculty--the department of intelligence information society--but will welcome students from various academic backgrounds, regardless of it being arts or sciences.

Dwango and the Nippon Foundation said they want to value real-life connections, but the classes will basically be conducted online.

Tuition will be 380,000 yen ($2,740) per year.

Dwango has been operating the online high school N High School in Okinawa Prefecture since 2016 and S High School in Ibaraki Prefecture since 2021.

Last year, about 8,000 students graduated from both schools.

Although online courses are available at 44 universities, Dwango said they are more for adults to re-educate themselves.

If the plan to enroll 5,000 students in one faculty is realized, it would be the second largest faculty among all universities, following the Open University of Japan in Chiba Prefecture with 15,000 students, according to the education ministry.

The ministry said the establishment of a new university requires its approval.

Although universities can set their admission quotas, they need to survey expected student enrollment and submit the results.

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES CONCERNED

The establishment of the new online university is driven by the rapid increase of online high schools.

The number of students attending distance-learning high schools in the 2022 academic year was 238,267, up nearly 30 percent from 10 years ago, according to the ministry.

The number of schools also increased by more than 50 compared to 10 years ago, to 274.

A former N High School student welcomed the new university, saying, “It’s great to be able to study online.”

The 19-year-old said many people around them had difficulty commuting to school or getting up in the morning.

“It would be nice to have an environment where people can study in their own way,” the former student said.

However, the large university could significantly affect existing small private universities. Such universities across the nation are concerned about growing competition among institutions to attract students.

“It is a problem that cannot be overlooked for regional universities facing a student shortage,” said the head of a small private university in the northern Kanto region.

“We also need to clarify the meaning of studying at a university more than ever,” the university head said.

The chief of a small private university in Hyogo Prefecture said the admission quota of 5,000 is “too large.”

“It is a question of how the education ministry can screen whether (the online university) has adequate two-way communication (between faculty and students), provides learning support for students and ensures the quality of students upon graduation,” said the chief of the university.

(This article was written by Kohei Kano and Chika Yamamoto, and by senior staff writers Asako Miyasaka and Fumio Masutani.)

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