In 2011, the Japanese government, in partnership with the International Baccalaureate (IB) Organization, embarked on an ambitious agenda of increasing the number of schools offering the IB Diploma Programme (DP) in Japan. One of the biggest challenges in this initiative is improving the recognition of the IB Diploma as an acceptable and sought after qualification for entry into the nation’s higher education institutions. By examining data on DP student matriculation and a survey of Japanese university admissions offices, this paper explores the relationship between the government project, growth of the DP and admissions reform in Japan. Analysis suggests that while the DP recognition situation in Japan is changing, the pace is fairly gradual compared to the timeline set by the government, and there is still some way to go to meet the project targets. Additionally, it appears to be the private universities rather than the national universities that are leading in the reforms and accepting the most DP students.

中文翻译：

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在日本扩大国际文凭课程：大学招生改革的作用

2011 年，日本政府与国际文凭组织 (IB) 合作，开始了一项雄心勃勃的议程，即增加在日本提供 IB 文凭课程 (DP) 的学校数量。该计划面临的最大挑战之一是提高对 IB 文凭作为进入国家高等教育机构的可接受和追捧资格的认可。通过检查DP学生入学数据和日本大学招生办公室的调查，本文探讨了日本政府项目、DP增长和招生改革之间的关系。分析表明，虽然日本的 DP 承认情况正在发生变化，但与政府设定的时间表相比，步伐相当缓慢，距离实现项目目标还有一段路要走。此外，似乎是私立大学而不是国立大学在改革中处于领先地位并接受了最多的DP学生。