2. Financial Management from R2020 Through the First Half of R2030 and Achievements to Date

(1) Initiatives During the R2020 Period

During the R2020 period from AY 2011 to AY 2020, Ritsumeikan University pursued planned improvements to education and research conditions, with the enhancement of educational quality and the learning environment as its basic objective. Specifically, the University has worked to improve the learning environment for each student by enhancing its educational framework through a steady increase in the number of full-time faculty members, developing and renewing campuses and education/research facilities, and expanding scholarship and learning support systems. A major feature of this period was that the University promoted learner-centered education and globalization without revising standard tuition.

At the same time, the University faced a series of external changes that were difficult to address on its own, including a decline in student numbers due to stricter enrollment-capacity management, an increase in the consumption tax rate, and higher social insurance costs. In addition, in AY 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic intensified, an urgent need arose to take measures to sustain students’ learning and daily lives. Drawing on the financial base it had built up to that point, Ritsumeikan University was able to act quickly to continue its educational activities even during an emergency. However, as these multiple factors converged, the operating balance for educational activities turned negative in AY 2020. Through this experience, the need for stable financial management from a long-term perspective was once again strongly recognized.

(2) Initiatives and Achievements in the First Half of R2030

During the first half of R2030, from AY 2021 to AY 2025, Ritsumeikan University worked under the R2030 Challenge Design, based on its recognition of issues from the R2020 period, with the basic policy of advancing ambitious education and research measures for the future while also strengthening its financial base. Aiming to develop into a next-generation research university, the University has continued to implement initiatives, including giving concrete form to the Ritsumeikan Advanced Research Academy (RARA) Initiative, which promotes priority research, and the Grassroots Practice Support System, which supports faculty and staff in voluntarily engaging in co-creation across job categories and organizational boundaries. These measures have been implemented so as not to increase reliance on tuition and fees, using budgets funded by interest and dividends rather than student fees.

In addition, during the first half of R2030, the University participated in Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan and held events such as the Kinugasa Art Village Festival, BKC Welcome Day—Biwako-Kusatsu Well-being Festival, and Ibaritsu (Ibaraki × Ritsumeikan DAY), as part of initiatives to broaden its relationships with society and local communities. These initiatives create opportunities for students to deepen their learning through exchanges with local residents, local governments, and other stakeholders, while also providing opportunities to communicate the University’s education and research activities and student initiatives to society. These practices can be positioned as one important achievement in the first half of R2030, as initiatives that promote mutual understanding between the University and local communities and society, and strengthen partnerships based on relationships of trust.

In addition, to improve the underlying operating balance, the Executive Board of Trustees, after multiple rounds of rigorous discussion, proposed a tuition revision method that incorporates the Academic Maintenance and Improvement Fee, intended to sustainably maintain and improve education and research conditions. Under this method, the recovery in student numbers and the increase in revenue from tuition and fees resulting from the tuition revision have played an important role in improving the soundness of the University’s financial and operating balance. In addition, by stabilizing interest and dividend income through stronger asset management, strengthening donation policies, and securing large-scale external research funding such as the Program for Forming Japan’s Peak Research Universities (J-PEAKS) and the Space Strategy Fund (SX), which serve as benchmarks for becoming a next-generation research university, the University has been gradually building a foundation for sustainable academic and financial management while curbing excessive reliance on student fees.

On the expenditure side, amid continued strong upward pressure from factors such as improvements in compensation for faculty and staff, inflation and rising raw material costs, the weakening yen, and measures taken toward an increasingly sophisticated IT environment, the University is also working to reduce costs by reviewing operations and promoting DX.

Changes in Campus Area per Student

Trends in the Number of Students per Faculty Member

Trends in the Tuition-and-Fee Ratio

Expense reduction initiatives: Accumulation of cost reduction efforts over time amid strong spending pressures due to changes in social conditions, etc.