So I’ve been applying to a few Japanese University for my Master’s in engineering and have been accepted to Ritsumeikan University. Waiting for a few other universities and wasn’t able to apply to a lot of the top unis.
I wanted to know how much does a university’s ranking matter in Japan.
Will it affect my Job prospects after my graduation?
Should I go for this university or wait another year and apply again for better universities.
I have talked to my prospective supervisor and like him a lot but I want to have more options if possible.
2 comments
It may matter for some positions, but it usually doesn’t matter that much. probably depends on the degree though
That said, Ritsumeikan is not that low ranking, it’s like in the low 30s in Japan. I went on exchange to a university that’s is a couple of places lower ranked, and I always get the impression that it’s a highly regarded university, so should be similar for Ritsumeikan.
depends what ranking you are talking about. Japanese universities have their own ranking, so what rank a Japanese uni has on ranking lists used in the west like QS, Shanghai Ranking etc.. doesn’t matter if you are going to work in Japan. If you want to check how reputable a Japanese university is in Japan you will have to do a search in Japanese and check japanese websites. Like there are groups of unis that are well known and it also depends on region, for example if you plan to live in Tokyo and go to an uni in Tokyo that has good reputation in Tokyo.
going to well known japanese uni with a good reputation definitely helps but it’s not everything. Network has the most impact, coming from well known uni could serve as leverage to build a good network tho.
If you look at [THE Japan University rankings by times higher education ](https://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/rankings/the/#:~:text=Ritsumeikan%20University%20is%20ranked%2031st,all%20universities%20in%20the%20area.) you can see that ritsumeikan is not an unknown university as it is ranked 31. However at the same time if you check the [list](https://www.timeshighereducation.com/rankings/japan-university/2022#!/page/0/length/50/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats) you can see the order of how unis are ranked is not super relevant, like tohoku university being number one and above Tokyo uni when Tokyo uni is considered as rank 1 uni in Japan. So looking at this list can help give you an idea but it’s not everything. I would favor japanese websites and sources for rankings if you plan to work in Japan though