Sundai Educational Group

One of Japan's big three cram school chains preparing students for university entrance exams.

Sundai's foundation status makes it nearly impossible to disappear, but its old way of proving it's the best, publishing admission counts, is gone, and the replacement business model is still unproven.

Sundai Educational Group is a century-old nonprofit that prepared students for Japanese university entrance exams and used admission results to attract families. For decades, the company's main advantage was publishing which students got into elite universities, which acted as a powerful advertisement. Starting in 2026, Sundai stopped publishing those numbers, instead trying to sell its teaching methods directly to schools and governments. At the same time, a rival called Toshin is using artificial intelligence and online videos to teach students while aggressively publishing their own test score results, and fewer young people in Japan need exam prep as birth rates fall. The key question is whether schools and local governments will actually sign up to buy Sundai's teaching methods in the next year or two. If they do, the company has found a real new business. If they do not, Sundai becomes a legacy nonprofit that shrinks along with the number of students taking college entrance exams.

• 35.5% stake in atama plus acquired April 2024 (2024-04-08)
• 635 staff reported, excluding lecturers and subsidiaries (2023-12)
• Japan-bound student population projected to fall to ~70% of current by 2050 (2025)

• Demographic decline shrinking university-bound population to ~70% of current by 2050. Severity: high
• Abandoned admission-count publication in 2025, removing core century-long marketing differentiator. Severity: high
• AI tutoring (atama plus) is non-exclusive and sold to thousands of competing classrooms. Severity: medium
• New B2B school/government revenue pivot remains unproven with no disclosed contract revenue. Severity: medium
• 2021 textbook-deletion controversy exposed academic-freedom and reputational vulnerability to political pressure. Severity: low

Is Sundai Educational Group profitable?

Sundai is a nonprofit school foundation (gakko hojin), so it has no share capital and legally does not disclose revenue or profit, per its own recruiting page dated 2025-06-30. Its for-profit subsidiary, Sundai Kyoiku Center, discloses only ¥45 million in capital, with no profit figures published.

Could AI replace Sundai's tutors?

Sundai already uses AI vendor atama plus for diagnostic testing, drills and grading since a 2019-09-04 rollout, and took a 35.5 percent stake in atama plus on 2024-04-08. But atama plus is sold to 4,000+ competing classrooms nationwide as of 2024-2025, so Sundai holds no exclusive AI edge.

Who owns Sundai Educational Group?

Sundai's core entity, Surugadai Gakuen, is a nonprofit educational foundation with no shareholders and no equity, per its 2025-06-30 recruiting disclosure. It is privately governed, not publicly traded, and has no external corporate parent; it instead holds a 35.5 percent equity stake in AI-edtech firm atama plus as of 2024-04-08.

Who is Sundai's biggest competitor, Kawaijuku or Toshin?

Both. Kawaijuku, a fellow 'big three' incumbent, reportedly runs about 513 campuses versus Sundai's 32 as of 2024 (vendor-claimed). Toshin (Nagase) is the faster-moving threat, marketing AI models it claims near Todai Science III admission level as of 2024-03-07, pressuring Sundai's premium positioning heading into 2026.

Why did Sundai stop publishing university admission results?

Sundai announced in August 2025 it would stop publishing individual university admission-result counts starting with the 2026 entrance cycle, ending over a century of the practice, saying the metric had become 'hollowed out' (keigaika) industry-wide, according to Diamond Online dated 2025-12-21.

Is Sundai shrinking or growing?

Sundai reported 635 core staff as of December 2023 (excluding lecturers), and Japan's university-bound population is projected by the education ministry to fall to about 70 percent of current levels by 2050, per a 2025-03-16 report, creating structural headwinds for its legacy consumer business.

• 2026-03-03atama plus AI pre-college coursework expands to 25 universities and 79 departments
• 2025-09-02Toyo Keizai reports Sundai pivoting to B2B sale of teaching methods to schools, governments
• 2025-08Sundai announces it will stop publishing university admission-result counts from 2026 cycle
• 2024-06-11atama plus launches franchise expansion, reaching 4,000+ classrooms nationwide
• 2024-04-08Surugadai Gakuen acquires 35.5% stake in AI-edtech firm atama plus
• 2021-09-14Sundai deletes Nanjing Massacre and Takeshima/Dokdo textbook passages after online pressure
• 2019-09-04Sundai completes full rollout of atama plus AI diagnostic tutoring engine
• 2018-06-12Subsidiary SATT acquires 100% of online-tutoring startup manabo
• 1918Sundai founded by Toshiharu Yamazaki in Tokyo

• Sundai Preparatory School
• 学校法人駿河台学園の新卒採用・会社概要 (2025-06-30)
• 駿台教育センターの新卒採用・就職・企業情報【就活会議】
• Japanese mobile tutor app Manabo acquired by prep school major Sundai Group (2018-06-12)
• 駿台、atama plusと資本業務提携 (2024-04-08)
• 河合塾と駿台を徹底比較 (2024-08-23)
• 東大合格者数最多なのになぜ？駿台予備校が合格実績公表を終了へ (2025-12-21)
• 駿台予備校｢大学合格者数の掲載やめる｣裏で新たな商機 (2025-09-02)
• 【2025年】受験生が受けるべきおすすめ模試5選 (2025-09-26)
• AI教材を提供するatama plus、駿台と提携し「atama＋オンライン塾」を本格展開 (2024-04-08)
• Criticized online, cram school deletes Nanking Massacre deaths (2021-09-14)
• (株)ウィルウェイ(馬渕教室)【馬渕教育グループ】の新卒採用・会社概要 (2026-04-24)