Kobe Shoin Women's University (Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture) has decided to change its name to "Kobe Shoin University" and become co-educational starting in 2025. Although the explanation for the reason is that it played a certain role in improving the status of women, it appears that the decision was made in response to the current situation where women's enrollment is continuing to fall due to the increasing number of students leaving women's universities. We will apply for the change to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in April.
The predecessor of Kobe Shoin Women's Gakuin University was Shoin Girls' School, which was opened by British missionaries in 1892. It opened as Shoin Joshi Gakuin University in 1966 and changed its name to its current name in 1995. Currently, the university has three faculties: the Faculty of Letters, the Faculty of Education, and the Faculty of Human Sciences, with approximately 3 female students studying there.
Along with the transition to co-education, the Department of English in the Faculty of Letters will be changed to the Department of Global Communication, with an eye to study abroad not only in English-speaking countries, but also in China and Korea, and the Department of Urban Life Studies in the Faculty of Human Sciences will be changed to include the use of information and communication technology. Switch to the human sciences department. The Department of Food and Nutrition in the Faculty of Human Sciences will stop recruiting from 2025.
As of May 2023, Kobe Shoin Women's University has a 5% occupancy rate for the Faculty of Letters, 67% for the Faculty of Education, and 57.9% for the Faculty of Human Sciences. The number of enrolled students has been cut in half from 77.5 in 2020 to 584 in 2023, resulting in chronic under-capacity, and the university has been focusing on securing students by reviewing departments and other measures.
However, due to the lack of results, the long-term planning review committee considered the future and apparently determined that it would be difficult to expect an increase in enrollment as the 18-year-old population continues to decline and women are leaving college. The affiliated Shoin Junior and Senior High School will continue to be an all-girls school.
Universities that have become coeducational include Kobe Shinwa University (Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, former Kobe Shinwa Women's University) in 2023, Kagoshima Junshin University (formerly Kagoshima Junshin Women's University, Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture), and 2024 Ohka Gakuen University (Toyoake City, Aichi Prefecture, name unchanged). It has been announced that in 2025, Nagoya Women's University (Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture) will become Nagoya Aoi University, and Seisen Jogakuin University (Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture) will become coeducational as Seisen University, and the school names will also change. In addition, Sonoda Gakuen Women's University (Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture) has announced a gradual transition to coeducationalism starting in April 2025 and the suspension of recruitment for the junior college division in 4.
