Japan’s Universities Fighting to Attract Students
After reading this article, it really surprise me that the main focus and attraction to get students to attend a university in Japan is not the quality of academics anymore, but it was the hot spring in the dormitories, which Fukuoka University of Economics is the only one that have offered this so far. Which direction is the educational system in Japan heading?
According to the article, Japan has one of the oldest and most established systems of higher education in Asia, but today its universities are scrambling to find new ways to attract students. Years of falling birthrates have rapidly shrunk the population of young Japanese, leaving increasingly larger numbers of universities unable to find enough students to fill their classrooms and campuses.
The rapid graying of Japan’s population has already made its presence felt in other parts of society, including the lower rungs of the nation’s education system where hundreds of half-empty elementary and high schools have closed or been merged over the last two decades. But it has only recently begun to affect higher education.
According to census statistics, the number of 18-year-old Japanese has fallen to 1.3 million this year from 2.05 million in 1992, when the second peak of Japan’s baby-boomers’ children were entering universities. Estimates show it dropping to 1.21 million in two more years. This year, as a result, nearly a third of the nation’s 707 four-year universities were unable to fill all of their openings, according to the Education Ministry and university groups.
So far, only three universities have gone bankrupt for lack of students, starting three years ago with Hiroshima’s Risshikan University, the first Japanese university to fail since World War II. But the Education Ministry and university groups are busily drawing up new guidelines to help them deal with something few developed nations have had to face before: dozens of universities suddenly shutting down, or restructuring in other ways, including mergers.
… “It used to be that students competed to get into universities,” said Shunji Iba, a university official. “Now, universities have to compete to get students.”
Read the rest of the article HERE.
Interesting article Ginger. It makes somewhat sense that may people I know in Laos are attending or have graduated from universities in Japan. My relatives told me that it is easier to apply to a university in Japan and to get accepted than to a university in Australia, the US, and Europe. I wonder if there is some truth to it.
I am also worried about the quality of education from there. If you lower the standards and let just about anyone in (for the sake of money), then what kind of education are you providing? I was told about one university that is being taught in English. Many students from Laos are not fluent in English can have their papers corrected by tutors. So, if you can pass the TOEFL with a minimum score and get accepted, you can have someone to help you write your papers. You pay that person by words and turn in your paper and passed the course and get your degree. This is nice and all but then you graduated with a piece of paper and you can't read and write English any better than when you started your study.
Then again, in the US you can pay people to write your term paper or buy one online.
Hi Darly! Yes, many students have tried to cheat by buying papers online or the copy and paste method. It is very easy to catch them do this. As a teacher I know what my students are capable( reading and writing level) and if they turn in a brilliant paper I question them on it. For example if they use big words I'll ask them to explain it to me etc. Also teachers have access to online resources where we can have their papers cross-referenced and check to see if they bought the paper. There are softwares out there available to do this.A degree that is bought is worthless once you are in that field because when it comes to doing your job you wouldn't know how to do it.
Maybe more Americans should go to univeristies in Japan. The tuition isn't so at $5000 a year. But maybe they just need more art school. As the article did state, The university also created a Celebrity Business major to train professional entertainers, after administrators saw a survey showing many young Japanese now aspiring to creative pursuits like music, rather than the "salaryman" positions sought by their parents' generation. "
I've also heard about the population of Japan shrinking. One of the main reason is the place is so over crowded. And many young ladies would rather not have children (or start a family). This is due to an increase in education, successful careers, and an interest outside the home.
Hi Darly, people do that all the time here in the US, I had one Lao guy that asked me to help him with his Thai girlfriend’s homeworks and papers, I refused to help because she wasn’t even there, he had to do everything for her, surprisingly she graduated with a master degree and went back to Thailand about 3 years ago.
I also had Thai people to e-mail me to help translate their textbook because they saw my blog, how crazy was that, now this creeps me out.