According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "School Basic Survey" in 2023, as of May 2023, 5, the number of students in high school (correspondence system) was 1, an increase of 26% from the previous year and a record high.By gender, the growth of women is particularly remarkable, and the gender reversed from 4,797.Looking at the changes in the number of students by establishment (public and private), due to the Special Education Zone introduced by the Koizumi Cabinet as a deregulation measure in 11.1, many private high schools opened from 2022 onwards. It continued to grow, while public schools continued to decline.However, from FY2003, the number of public schools will also exceed the previous year and turn to increase.

　Correspondence high schools have become more widely known due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and new correspondence high schools and new campuses are being established one after another across the country.In addition, there are many cases where high schools that have established a full-time course also offer a correspondence course, and when entering high school, the environment has become such that students can choose between attending a full-time course every day or choosing the number of days to attend a correspondence course.N High School and S High School, established by Kadokawa Dwango Gakuen, have the largest number of students among the correspondence high schools.The number of enrolled students is 2 (posted on the website, as of June 5,041, 2023), which has grown to account for about 6/30 of the number of correspondence students nationwide.

　Against the backdrop of such a social situation, there is a plan to open an online university "ZEN University (provisional name)" in April 2025.Established in partnership with Dwango Co., Ltd. and The Nippon Foundation, it has a capacity of 4 students per grade.According to the announcement, one department of the Faculty of Intelligence, Information and Society offers related subjects such as "Humanities and Society," "Information," "Mathematical Science," "Digital Industry," and "Creativity," covering a certain amount of learning fields in both the humanities and sciences.

　Correspondence high school March 2022 graduates are 3 people.Of these, 7 went on to university, or 993%.The overall university entrance rate is 1%, so there is a big difference from the university entrance rate of correspondence high schools.However, there is a possibility that students who are accustomed to correspondence in correspondence high schools will choose correspondence in college as well.Also, it is quite conceivable that even full-time high schools, which have become accustomed to online classes after the corona crisis, will choose correspondence universities. Considering the size of the enrollment capacity of 2,722 students per year at ZEN University, it is predicted that there will be a large impact on commuting universities in the 17.9 academic year.

　Currently, 43 universities are recruiting students for correspondence courses in undergraduate schools.Of these, 6 universities (the Open University of Japan, Tokyo University of Communication, Business Breakthrough University, Seisa University, Yashima Gakuen University, and Cyber ​​University) have established only correspondence courses, and the other 37 universities have both commuting and correspondence courses. .In the correspondence courses of universities that have both, the undergraduate departments that can be studied are limited compared to the commuter course, and there are cases where working adults are the main target.

　In the future, it is thought that we will enter an era in which high school students will choose between commuting and correspondence when going on to college.Universities should not only incorporate online lectures into their commuting courses, but also need to seriously consider and review the "correspondence course" with the opening of the online university ZEN University. .

Reference: [US Advancement Research Institute] Thinking about university correspondence courses based on the significant increase in the number of correspondence high school students
[Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology] XNUMX School Basic Survey (preliminary figures) will be announced (PDF)