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FY2020 MEXT General Budget Highlights

Towards reforming Japan into a nation that provides opportunities for everyone, MEXT will realize a productivity revolution by carrying out a human resources development revolution through promoting educational reform, science and technology innovation, promoting sport, and cultural arts, while focusing on the arrival of the 100-Year Life Society and Society 5.0.

	FY2019 Budget	FY2020 Budget	Change in Yen
MEXT General Budget	5,306.2 billion yen                *1	5,306.0 billion yen              *2 *3	-0.2 billion yen

*1 Budget reflects re-estimation of costs reflecting new program on free preschool education and day care services.
*2 109.2 billion yen separately appropriated for “extraordinary and special measures” (including disaster prevention, disaster mitigation, boosting nation’s resilience).
Budget for free preschool education and day care services, new system on supporting higher education appropriated separately in Cabinet Office budget.
*3 Budget including expenses for new childcare support system: 5,307.2 (increase by 1 billion yen).
 
Education-related Budget Highlights:   (4,030.3 billion yen) (increase by 3 billion yen)  
Upgrading foundations to promote educational policy
◆Realizing schools that work as a team by building a teaching and management system for the smooth implementation of the New Courses of Study and advancing work-reform in schools.
-National treasury’s share of compulsory education expenses: 1,522.1 billion yen (increase by 2.1 billion yen)
-Increase expert staff and external human resources: 14.6 billion yen (increase by 1.1 billion yen)
 
◆Strengthen school safety measures in collaboration with the local police and community. Develop a school safety system in collaboration with the community by considerably deploying more school guard leaders.
-Strengthen activities for keeping guard over students in national, public and private schools: 0.7 billion yen (increase by 0.6 billion yen)
-Promote projects to ensure school safety: 0.2 billion yen (increase by 0.01 billion yen)
 
◆Demonstrate ways to effectively utilize cutting-edge technology and establish a diverse communication environment to realize the GIGA School Concept, support municipalities to advance ICT environments
-Empirical studies for implementation of cutting-edge technology for education in a new era: 0.5 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
[FY2019 Supplementary budget: 231.8 billion yen]
 
◆Advance university reform by enhancing university’s basic expenses while advancing efficient allocation based on assessments and objective indicators, promote the sophistication and internationalization of technical colleges.
-Advance reform at national universities: 1,111.7 billion yen (increase by 10.2 billion yen)
[FY2019 Supplementary budget: 4.5 billion yen]
[FY2020 Budget for extraordinary and special measures: 2.8 billion yen]
-Sophistication and internationalization of national colleges of technology: 62.7 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
[FY2019 Supplementary budget: 4 billion yen]
-Upgrade facilities of national universities, national colleges of technology: 36.1 billion yen (increase by 1.4 billion yen)
[FY2019 Supplementary budget: 32 billion yen]
[FY2020 Budget for extraordinary and special measures: 43 billion yen]
-Promote reform at private universities (excludes new system on reducing class fees): 410.6 billion yen (decrease by 18.4 billion yen)
[FY2019 Supplementary budget: 5 billion yen]
[FY2020 Budget for extraordinary and special measures: 4.3 billion yen]
 
◆ Upgrading public school facilities centered on the systematic and efficient development of facilities for long-term use, upgrading certified child center facilities to alleviate shortage of nursery facilities.
-Upgrading public school facilities: 69.5 billion yen (increase by 2.8 billion yen)
[FY2019 Supplementary budget: 60.6 billion yen]
[FY2020 Budget for extraordinary and special measures: 47 billion yen]
-Upgrading certified child center facilities: 2.5 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
[FY2019 Supplementary budget: 15 billion yen]
[FY2020 Budget for extraordinary and special measures: 0.5 billion yen]
 
Foster children with the necessary strength to dream and take on challenges
◆ Enhance hands on experience activities for children to nurture a rich spirit by promoting collaborations between schools, households and communities, promoting work-reform at schools, and communities collaborate to support children’s learning.
-Strengthen communities with schools at the core: 7.4 billion yen (increase by 1 billion yen)
-Implement survey project on model support by communities for a diverse range of group activities for preschool children: 0.2 billion yen (new)

• Enhance support to foster students with qualities and knowledge needed for a new era including advancing educational reform in high school, advancing measures to improve children’s academic abilities based on PISA2018 results, enhancing contents of moral education.

-Promote education in collaboration between high schools, communities, and higher educational institutions: 0.4 billion yen (increase by 0.04 billion yen)
-Promote measures to enhances students’ reading abilities: 0.6 billion yen (increase by 0.1 billion yen)
-Fundamental reform and enhancement of moral education: 4.2 billion yen (increase by 0.03 billion yen)

• Improve education consultation system to promote better correspondence to abuse, bullying and truancy

-Increase dispatch of school counsellors and school social workers: 6.7 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
-Build consultation system utilizing SNS: 0.2 billion yen (same as FY2019)
-Project to improve support for truant students: 0.2 billion yen (new)
-Promote establishment and enhance night-time schools: 0.1 billion yen (increase by 0.03 billion yen)
 

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Foster children with diverse capabilities to promote the sustainable development of society
◆Secure and enhance educational opportunities for children and students in a global society by enhancing measures to dispatch teachers to Japanese educational institutions overseas.
-Upgrade educational functions of Japanese educational institutions overseas: 17.7 billion yen (increase by 0.1 billion yen)
-Project on building bridges among Asian high school students: 0.5 billion yen (increase by 0.05 billion yen)
 
◆Promote reform at higher educational institutions to prepare for the arrival of Society 5.0 and a knowledge-based society.
-Outstanding graduate school program: 7.7 billion yen (increase by 0.3 billion yen)
-Nationwide development of mathematics, data science and AI education: 1 billion yen (increase by 0.1 billion yen)
-Project to foster human resources to support a knowledge-based society: 0.4 billion yen (new)
 
Enhance environments so citizens can continue to learn and be active throughout their lives
◆　Increase educational opportunities for working people through recurrent education to towards a 100 Year Life Society, in which anyone can take on new challenges no matter what age.
-Project to promote integration of recurrent education at vocational schools: 0.4 billion yen (increase by 0.1 billion yen)
-Integrated support for women’s learning and career development: 0.03 billion yen (new)
 
◆ Promote life-long learning for special needs education from pre-school to graduation
-Provide learning assistance for persons with disabilities after graduating school: 0.1 billion yen (increase by 0.01 billion yen)
-Enhance specialized assistance education by building a seamless support system: 2.5 billion yen (increase by 0.05 billion yen)
 
Building safety nets for learning so everyone can lead society
◆ Build a safety net for learning to ease the burden at each educational stage through the steady implementation of the new system on free preschool education and day care services, realize exemption of tuition fee private high schools, create new system to support high school education fees.
-Steady implementation of new program on free preschool education and day care services: included in 341 billion yen
-Aiming for free tuition for private high schools: 424.8 billion yen (increase by 53.9 billion yen)
-Steady implementation of program on tuition support for higher education: 582.3 billion yen (479.3 billion yen)
 
◆Providing seamless support to prevent high school dropouts, and providing academic assistance for high school dropouts
-Utilize school counsellors and school social workers: 6.7 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
-Provide support for people relearning in high school: 0.3 billion yen (increase by 0.1 billion yen)
-Promote consultations and assistance for high school dropouts: 0.1 billion yen (increase by 0.05 billion yen)
◆Enhance Japanese educational contents and education for foreign students to correspond to the rising number of foreigners in Japan and to realize a symbiotic society
-Promote Japanese education for foreigners living in Japan: 1.0 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
-Enhance education for foreign students: 0.8 billion yen (increase by 0.3 billion yen)
 
 
Sports-related Budget Highlights      35.1 billion yen (increase by 1.1 billion yen)
                                  [FY2019 Supplementary budget: 3.6 billion yen]
◆Correspond to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics by supporting strengthening activities implemented by various sporting organizations, establish support bases for athletes during the Games, and to improve and strengthen anti-doping system
-Project to improve athletes’ competitive ability: 10.1 billion yen (increase by 0.01 billion yen)
-High performance support project: 2.2 billion yen (increase by 0.9 billion yen)
-Improve and strengthen anti-doping system: 0.3 billion yen (same as last year)
 
◆Promote comprehensive sport policies to create a sports legacy after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics including increase citizens’ participation in sport, promote development of the sport industry, promoting Budo martial arts and sports tourism, building foundation for sport for disabled persons
-Promote Sport in Life to increase citizens’ participation in sport: 0.3 billion yen (new)
-Project to promote development of sports industry: 0.2 billion yen (increase by 0.03 billion yen)
-Build environment by utilizing sports resources to increase inbound tourists: 0.2 billion yen (new)
-Project to promote sport for disabled persons: 0.09 billion yen (increase by 0.03 billion yen)
 
Culture and Arts-related Budget Highlights   106.7 billion yen (increase by 0.01billion yen)
*Finances for International tourism tax appropriated separately (9.8 billion yen)  [FY2019 Supplementary budget: 7.7 billion yen]
 
◆Improve disaster prevention measures such as arsons to pass down cultural properties to the next generation, repair and improve structures based on an appropriate cycle, strengthen foundations for inheriting techniques to maintain cultural properties, implement measures to enhance the allure of Japan Heritage as tourism resources
-Plan to promote disaster prevention measures to protect cultural properties from disasters: 3.9 billion yen (increase by 1 billion yen)
-Promote the inheritance of cultural properties through repair work under an appropriate cycle: 21.2 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
 
◆Promote cultural programs to realize a culture and arts-oriented nation and to create legacies after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, provide effective support for culture and arts creative activities, foster culture and arts human resources corresponding to a new era.
-Provide effective support for culture and arts creative activities: 6.2 billion yen (increase by 0.1 billion yen)
-Foster children’s rich creativity through culture and art: 6.7 billion yen (increase by 0.1 billion yen)
 
◆ Develop and enhance national cultural facilities which serve as the face of Japan, support measures to strengthen the functions of national museums, strengthen national foundations to disseminate culture, enhance opportunities for citizens to appreciate art
- Plan to strengthen function of cultural bases including national museums: 2 billion yen (new)
- Strengthen functions of national cultural facilities: 29.5 billion yen (increase by 0.4 billion yen)
 

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Science and Technology-related Budget Highlights   976.2 billion yen (increase by 1.1 billion yen)
＊Includes special account for energy measures: 108.6 billion yen in total (decrease by 0.2 billion yen)
＊Budget for extraordinary and special measures separately appropriated: 5.9 billion yen (Supplementary budget for FY2019: 126.5 billion yen)
 
Integrally advance reform of universities and research human resources and finances and environments
~Steadily advance reform to improve Japan’s R&D capabilities in 2019
◆”Human Resources”: Build a system to strengthen researchers to make research professions more appealing
                 -Special researcher project: 15.6 billion yen (increase by 0.01 billion yen)
                 -Project to strategically foster researchers active on the world stage: 0.3 billion yen (increase by 0.07 billion yen)
                 -Initiative to realize diverse research environments: 1 billion yen, increase by 0.01 billion yen
◆”Finances”: Supporting diverse, challenging and outstanding research
                 -Grants-in-aid for scientific research: 237.4 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
                 -Creating places to advance creative research: 0.06 billion yen (new) [ supplementary budget for FY2019: 55 billion yen]
                 -Project to create a future-oriented society: 7.7 billion yen (increase by 1.2 billion yen)
◆”Environments”: Maximizing efficient research by reforming laboratories and securing enough research hours
                 -Project to promote joint use of cutting-edge research bases: 1.2 billion yen (decrease by 0.1 billion yen)
                 -Strengthening R&D for innovative materials (M-cube): 2 billion yen (increase by 0.04 billion yen) [supplementary budget for FY2019: 1.4 billion yen]
 
Realizing Society 5.0 and creating innovations pioneering a new future, and strengthening foundations to support these changes
◆Promoting open innovation by building places for co-creation, supporting university-led venture start-ups
-Support building places for co-creation: 13.8 billion yen (increase by 1.2 billion yen)
-Program for creating Start-ups from Advanced Research and Technology (START): 1.9 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
-Exploration and Development of Global Entrepreneurship for NEXT generation (EDGE-NEXT): 0.4 billion yen (increase by 0.06 billion yen)
◆Strategically promote R&D in priority areas of AI, IoT, quantum technology and nanotechnology based on national strategy discussions in areas including AI, quantum technology innovations
- RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP Center): 3.2 billion yen (increase by 0.2 billion yen)
- Quantum Leap Flagship Program (Q-LEAP): 3.2 billion yen (increase by 1 billion yen)
- Nanotechnology platform: 1.6 billion yen (decrease by 0.02 billion yen)
 
◆ Building and promoting usage of large-size research facilities in line with world standards
- Manufacturing and developing system for Supercomputer “Fugaku”: 6 billion yen (increase by 0.3 billion yen) [Supplementary budget for FY2019: 14.4 billion yen]
- Building next-generation synchrotron radiation facility through partnership between government-civil society and the community: 1.7 billion yen (increase by 0.4 billion yen) [Supplementary budget for FY2019: 3.8 billion yen]
- Upgrading and sharing large cutting-edge research facilities: 40.7 billion yen (increase by 4.4 billion yen)
 
Promoting R&D aimed at solving national and social issues of vital importance
◆ Promoting R&D in health and medical fields to realize global cutting edge medical research using iPS cells
- Regenerative medicine base network program: 9.1 billion yen (same as last year)
- Life sciences research foundation program to promote development of new medicines: 3.7 billion yen (increase by 0.8 billion yen)
- Tohoku area medical megabank plan: 2 billion yen (increase by 0.5 billion yen)
 
◆ Promoting R&D in disaster prevention and mitigation
- Building a new Nankai trough earthquake and tsunami observation facility: 5.9 billion yen [extraordinary and special measures]
- R&D for basic and foundational disaster science and technology: 7.6 billion yen (same as last year) [supplementary budget for FY2019: 1 billion yen]
 
◆ Promoting R&D to realize a clean and affordable environmentally friendly energy system
- ITER plan, nuclear fusion R&D including BA activities: 21.3 billion yen (decrease by 0.5 billion yen) [supplementary budget for FY2019: 2.4 billion yen]
- R&D for next-generation semi-conductors to realize an energy efficient society: 1.5 billion yen (decrease by 0.08 billion yen)
 
Implementing R&D priority technological areas for Japan’s national strategy
◆ Advancing R&D in space and aviation fields including the H3 Rocket and space technology
-Safety security and disaster prevention of H3 rocket and next-generation satellites, contributing to industrial promotion: 72.7 billion yen (increase by 4.6 billion yen) [FY2019 supplementary budget: 17.2 billion yen]
- R&D for international space exploration (Gateway creation): 7 billion yen (increase by 1.2 billion yen) [FY2019 supplementary budget: 5 billion yen]
- R&D for next-generation aviation science and technology: 3.6 billion yen (decrease by 0.1 billion yen)
◆ Advancing R&D in maritime and polar regions
- R&D to forecast global environment and fluctuations: 3 billion yen (decrease by 0.1 billion yen) [FY2019 supplementary budget: 1 billion yen]
- Strategic promotion of Arctic research: 1.4 billion yen (increase by 0.3 billion yen)
◆ Advancing R&D in nuclear science and safety securing measures
- Fostering human resources to maintain basic foundational research on nuclear power: 5.1 billion yen (increase by 0.4 billion yen) [FY2019 supplementary budget: 4 billion yen]
- Realizing plan to speed up R&D on the decommissioning the Tokyo Electric Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant: 4.2 billion yen (decrease by 0.2 billion yen)
- Measures to decommission Monju fast breeder reactor: 17.9 billion yen (same as last year)