The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has decided to partially revise the university establishment standards of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to promote the introduction of the joint degree (international collaborative curriculum system), and reported the outline to the Central Council for Education University Subcommittee.The system will be revised to be easier for universities to use, such as relaxation of installation approval and abolition of capacity standards, and will come into effect in August.
According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the maximum number of students in the international collaborative curriculum has been 2% of the number of students in faculties, but this will be abolished.The graduation requirement is to acquire 31 credits or more in the bachelor's degree program of the university, and the number of credits acquired in the international collaborative curriculum shall not be included in the minimum number of credits acquired in domestic and foreign universities.
With the revision of the ministerial ordinance, the number of full-time faculty members, facilities, and equipment will be reviewed at each university on the premise that some of the resources of the parent faculty will be utilized.Two or more universities that have international collaboration departments can collaborate in conducting education and research, and the credits that students have acquired in the international collaboration curriculum of other universities will be accepted as credits for the international collaboration curriculum of their own university.
Joint degree is a system that allows both universities to issue a diploma (* 1) jointly when a curriculum is set up in collaboration with a domestic university and a foreign university. The system was established in 2014, and 12 programs have been operated at 26 universities in Japan so far.However, there were voices from the university side saying that the installation requirements were too strict, such as all the departments and majors that set up the international collaborative curriculum were subject to the establishment approval.
* 1 Bachelor's degree The original document issued by a university, etc. to prove that a student has been awarded a degree.
