Asamizu Munehiko

Online education has strongly developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. While public schools in Japan were off to a slow start, China became a pioneer in online education under the policy of "classes stop but learning continues." On the other hand, this drastic educational reform was painful, although the situation was better than in Japan. In this paper, we present both relevant literature and local examples in order to consider from various perspectives.

For Chinese people, study abroad is an important matter. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries implemented travel regulation policies. Except for the early part of 2020, however, long term residents, including international students, were allowed to enter Japan. Despite the COVID pandemic, some of the degree program students entered Japan from abroad. In addition, as soon as the international travel regulations ended, a huge number of non-degree students including kenkyusei（ research students） and language program students rushed to Japan.

本論は、ボランティア等の活動を通し、学生による様々な社会貢献について、文献と簡易な現地調査によって概観したものである。山口大学の場合、学生の学外での活動に対してサポートの歴史が長く、学生の活動内容も時代と共に変化してきている。学生の課外活動は単に変化しているだけでなく、次第に複合化し、高度化を遂げている。山口大学における学生による社会貢献の一例として、本論では2019 年度に実施されたインバウンド対応企画である「Mini Bus Tour」について紹介するが、従来型の異文化交流ツアーやモニターツアーよりも企画段階で良く練りあげられており、今後の継続次第では社会的・経済的な貢献も期待できる。

During the COVID time, international students could not enter Japan easily. Until March 2022, regulation and deregulation for degree course students often changed in Japan. Like tourists, furthermore, non-degree shorter student mobility opened later. For exchange, research, and other short course students, they needed to wait until October 2022 to come to Japan.

In the 2000s, English-Medium Instruction (EMI) in non-English countries developed worldwide. Japan is one of these countries and the number of English-based students who cannot utilize Japanese language increased. Some of the Japanese universities offer dormitories for international students, who can gradually get used to learning the Japanese way of life after they arrive in Japan. Some of the universities also offer cultural exchange programs for EMI students. However, due to the COVID-19, the situation has changed.

To minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese government regulated the mobility of international visitors including students. Before March 2020, international students could enter Japan without restriction. During October and November 2020, a limited number of international students entered Japan with expensive air fares and a 14-day quarantine. However, except these months, many students, especially newly enrolled ones, could not enter Japan.

Due to the COVID-19, many countries including Japan have reinforced regulations at the borders. As many international students could not enter Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some universities offered online education services as an alternate. On the other hand, since April 2020, many of international student livening in Japan have not been able to go back to their countries.