The Relationship Between University Education and Pro-Immigrant Attitudes Varies by Generation: Insights From Japan

Abstract While there is lively debate on whether higher education cultivates support for immigrants in North America and Western Europe, there is little discussion on the extent to which the relationship generalizes beyond these continents. In light of Japan’s growing reliance on foreign workers, increase in university enrollment rates, as well as efforts to internationalize universities over the last half-century, we explore the relationship between university education and Japanese attitudes toward immigrants. Using two surveys asking an overlapping set of questions in 2009 and 2022, we find the relationship between university education and pro-immigrant attitudes varies by generation. Otherwise positive connections are significantly weakened for Japanese who entered universities in the 1990s through 2000s. Even though Japan is a modern democracy with well-developed higher education institutions, these institutions do not always correlate with more supportive attitudes toward immigrants. Our findings underscore the dynamic nature of higher education’s role in shaping public opinion outside of North America and Western Europe.