Photo/Illutration Minerva University President Mike Magee, middle, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on April 22. (Fumio Masutani)

Minerva University, a private four-year online school, announced that it will launch a base in the capital in September 2025 at a news conference in Tokyo on April 22. 

The U.S. university is known for its unique program in which students move to seven cities in four years while taking classes online and working with companies and other organizations on collaborative projects.

The university was established by Ben Nelson, an entrepreneur, in 2014 and does not have a physical campus.

At the news conference, the university said students from about 100 countries are currently enrolled.

Students begin their university experience at dormitories in San Francisco, where the school is headquartered. Then, students move from one dormitory to another across six cities--Seoul, Hyderabad, Berlin, Buenos Aires, London, and Taipei--while participating in online classes centered on small-group discussions.

The school is based on an idea that “the city is the campus.” Students are involved in research and work experience at companies and nonprofit organizations in these cities where they stay.

So far, students have participated in a project to promote technology education for girls in Germany and a program to study history and culture in Seoul.

The number of applicants has risen every year due to increased interest in this form of education.

In 2023, approximately 5,000 students applied for the school, of which about 150, or 3 percent, were accepted.

Currently, about 20 Japanese students are enrolled.

Starting in September 2025, about 150 students will live in a dormitory in Tokyo for a year while working on projects to solve social issues with companies and local governments around Japan.

The Nippon Foundation will invest about 8 billion yen ($51.7 million) over 10 years to help establish the dormitory and select projects.

University President Mike Magee said that the school has chosen Tokyo as a new base because “Japan is an internationally important country where students can learn about its deep culture and history.”

Having a base in Japan would also help the university’s goal to increase the number of Japanese students in the future, Magee said.

Junpei Sasakawa, executive director of the Nippon Foundation, said that the organization is helping the university because “if students from various countries engage in Japan-based activities every year, the Japanese people they interact with will grow and become more aware of global issues."

He added, "The students will also become fans of Japan and one day they will work together to build the future of Japan.”

Two Japanese students currently enrolled in Minerva University also attended the news conference.

Yasuko Kinoshita, a junior student who grew up in Akita Prefecture, said she chose the university because, “I wanted to dive into an environment where students from all over the world gather together.”

Kinoshita said about the school’s expansion to Tokyo, “I think students will discover a lot by being exposed to Japan’s unique traditions, culture and perspectives.”

There are several overseas universities that have campuses in Japan, including Shanghai University, Shenzhen University and Temple University, which opened its Japan Campus in 1982.

Arizona State University opened its Thunderbird Graduate School of Global Management jointly with Hiroshima University in 2020.

A number of foreign-affiliated elementary and junior high schools have entered the Japanese market as well, including Harrow International School Appi in Hachimantai, Iwate Prefecture, Rugby School Japan in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, and Malvern College Tokyo in Tachikawa, western Tokyo.

(This article was written by Fumio Masutani, and senior staff writer Asako Miyasaka.)

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