Fewer Students, More Universities?

The November issue of Japan CLOSE-UP has been published!

Japan CLOSE-UP is an English-language monthly magazine bringing you the latest news on Japanese business, products, culture, society, trends, and people.

One of featured articles on the issue is "Fewer Students, More Universities? It's a Puzzle!" Japan's institutes of higher learning, namely its universities and colleges, are in crisis.

Today there are about 765 four-year national, public, and private post-secondary schools across the country. Although this is an era of so-called universal admissions when anyone who wants to can get into college, half of all private universities are below capacity in terms of enrollment. In a rush to maintain student numbers, many schools are introducing ichigei nyushi, entrance exams geared to a single specialty or field of study, or setting up new "unique" academic departments.

As a result, even students who are subpar academically are now "college students." "They can't do elementary school level computation...." "They can't write decent Japanese…." While we hear more in this vein from the schools, for their part schools have continued to haphazardly add new academic departments that can only be considered transitory and calculating, so to top it all off schools may not even be able to maintain their own academic quality.

What in the world is going on at universities in Japan?


Read more http://www.export-japan.com/jcu/sample/index.php


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