[Congressional Bills 103th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. Res. 279 Introduced in Senate (IS)] 103d CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 279 To state the sense of the Senate concerning the Government of Japan recognizing American college and university branch campuses in Japan as American institutions of higher learning. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES October 7 (legislative day, September 12), 1994 Mr. Roth submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations _______________________________________________________________________ RESOLUTION To state the sense of the Senate concerning the Government of Japan recognizing American college and university branch campuses in Japan as American institutions of higher learning. Whereas Japan sends approximately 45,000 students to study in the United States, but hosts only 1,500 American students studying in Japan; Whereas increased educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Japan is mutually beneficial to both countries; Whereas Japanese Government officials at the highest level have repeatedly called for cooperative ventures between the United States and Japan in educational and cultural exchange and stressed the need to foster the development of mutual understanding of each country's social, political, and economic systems; Whereas certain United States institutions of higher education established overseas branch campuses in Japan in order to facilitate such educational and cultural exchange; Whereas the Association of American Colleges and Universities in Japan (AACUJ) was formed to ensure the academic quality of American branch campuses in Japan and to enhance the educational contributions by American branch campuses in Japan; Whereas AACUJ-approved campuses in Japan have been fully accredited by appropriate accrediting agencies in the United States; Whereas the Government of Japan has unreasonably refused to accord official status to AACUJ-approved branch campuses in Japan as accredited American institutions of higher education; Whereas the Government of Japan, by its refusal to accord official status to AACUJ-approved campuses in Japan as American institutions of higher education, degrades the status of AACUJ-approved branch campuses of the rights and privileges available to students attending similar Japanese institutions of higher education, including transportation pass discounts, student visas, and other rights and benefits accompanied by student visas; Whereas foreign students wishing to attend AACUJ-approved branch campuses in Japan are not eligible for student visas and almost all American students must instead apply for ``enhanced cultural activities visas'' in order to study at these branch campuses in Japan; Whereas the process for securing ``enhanced cultural visas'' has not been regularized and is unnecessarily burdensome, time-consuming, and subject to procedural surprises, irregularities, uncertainty, and delay; Whereas the policy of the Government of Japan constitutes unreasonable restrictions on the number of American students studying in Japan and contributes to the disproportionate disparity between the number of Japanese students studying in the United States and the number of American students studying in Japan; Whereas Japanese university branch campuses in the United States receive appropriate recognition through accreditation by American accrediting agencies in the same way as American universities; and Whereas the Government of the United States grants foreign students attending Japanese branch campuses in the United States student visas with the same rights and privileges available to students attending similar American institutions of higher education: Now, therefore, be it Resolved That it is the sense of the Senate that-- (1) the Government of Japan immediately cease its discriminatory policy toward AACUJ-approved branch campuses in Japan; (2) the Government of Japan accord official status to AACUJ-approved branch campuses in Japan as American institutions of higher education and grant them all the rights and privileges enjoyed by similar Japanese educational institutions; and (3) the Government of Japan grant student visas to students wishing to attend AACUJ-approved branch campuses in Japan and accord them all the rights and privileges available to students attending similar Japanese educational institutions. <all>