How much do Japanese companies care about the (international) ranking of the university you graduated from?

Here’s the dilemma: I have offers from two universities for a masters degree (STEM / Informatics), one from Southampton, and one from King’s College London. I’d prefer to live in Southampton, but King’s College scores significantly higher in global rankings. I need to decide by end of tomorrow because of offer acceptance deadlines (well actually I’ve already accepted both, but I had to put a £500 deposit down for King’s College which I am unable to have refunded from Sunday).

Before I seal the deal, I am just wondering if anyone has advice on how much Japanese companies care about about the ranking of your university.

FYI in case it means anything, I went to a low ranked university in the UK for my Bachelor’s degree (University of Greenwich).

6 comments
  1. I’m not an expert on it, but form what I do know, they don’t care at all.

    If you’re trying to move to Japan, work experience is really all that matters, with some exceptions.

  2. If your school is in the top 50 worldwide rankings, and you have published research that relates to the specific job you are applying it could give a pretty significant edge.

    If the school is in the top 200 and you are applying for a run of a mill job, then it might just be a slight edge.

  3. I’m not an expert, so I just say what I understand.

    The Japanese language is the thing you need to set as priority if you consider working in Japan. Related experience will be plus, however, Japanese companies value how you can integrate with the community.

  4. Flip it around if someone presented 2 schools on a resume from New Zealand would you care which was higher? I dont think that theres much familiarity in JPN of UK schools, beyond the obvious top tier of Oxford, Cambridge and LSE.

  5. From what I remember if your school is in the top X, I think it was top 50, from the guardian’s list or 2 others (one US, one china) you can get extra points for a High skilled visa.

  6. It’s more of personal initiative, mastery of the language, personality, and, yes……looks.

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