In the early twentieth century, studying abroad was no simple matter. High costs were one thing; the greatest obstacle was the language barrier.
The prerequisite for studying abroad was learning a foreign language first. It was not enough to be able to converse—you also had to reach an exam-ready level.
Aside from Japan's diploma mills, which accepted anyone with open arms, every other university had its threshold. Unless one paid an exorbitant sponsorship fee, one could only gain admission by passing the entrance examination.
Whether that meant a written exam, an interview, or admission by recommendation, there was no uniform standard.
Whether one could stand out depended not only on personal ability, but even more on one's connections.
This was also the main reason students from the Far East chose Japan: once they went there, they were guaranteed a school to attend. If they chose to study in other countries, they did not even know whether they could secure admission.
South Seas University was no exception in its admissions. Its entrance examinations were limited to several testing sites in the Austrian South Seas; it was impossible to send people across all of Asia to organize exams.
The Ministry of Education had regulations: examination syllabi had to revolve around secondary-school textbooks. Given the same questions, overseas students who crammed at the last minute were obviously no match for local students who had studied diligently for more than a decade.
It seemed that more than a thousand students were recruited from across Asia, but in reality, most of those able to distinguish themselves in the written examination still came from the Austrian South Seas.
Failing the written examination meant being cut off from free education and having no choice but to pay for one's studies.
South Seas University had only just been