Soai Gakuen, the educational corporation that runs Soai University (located in Nanko-naka, Suminoe-ku, Osaka), held a board meeting and decided to stop recruiting students for the Department of Child Education in the Faculty of Human Development from 2026. In the Department of Child Education, students can simultaneously obtain a first-class license to teach elementary school and kindergarten, as well as a childcare worker qualification, and the employment rate for 2023 is 100%, but the decision to stop recruiting was made as there was no prospect of an improvement in the occupancy rate.
Soai University has three faculties: the Faculty of Music, the Faculty of Humanities, and the Faculty of Human Development. The Faculty of Human Development has two departments: the Department of Child Education and the Department of Registered Nutrition.
The Department of Child Education, for which recruitment will be suspended, has a curriculum that allows students to simultaneously obtain three qualifications: a first-class license for elementary school and kindergarten teachers, and a childcare worker qualification. The license/qualification acquisition rate for the 3 graduates is 2023% for a first-class license for elementary school teachers, 77.5% for a first-class license for kindergarten teachers, and 85.0% for a childcare worker qualification, with 67.5% acquiring all three at the same time. The employment rate is 57.5%.
However, due to the effects of the declining birthrate and other factors, the number of students entering from 2022 onwards will be significantly lower than the enrolment capacity. Despite efforts to improve the situation by improving the educational content and devising effective communication methods, it has been determined that it will be extremely difficult to continue filling the enrolment capacity in the future.
While junior colleges nationwide that train childcare workers are suspending enrollment, the number of university education departments suspending enrollment is not high. However, according to data from the Japan Private School Promotion Mutual Aid Corporation, the 2024 enrollment rate for education-related programs at private universities is 91.5%, which is still below capacity, and the rate tends to be lower for departments with the word "children" in their names.
In recent years, university departments of education that have suspended recruitment include the Department of Child Culture, Faculty of Contemporary Culture at Tokyo Junshin University (Tokyo: undergraduate recruitment suspended from 2023), the Department of Child Psychology, Faculty of Contemporary Human Studies at Kobe Kaisei Women's University (Hyogo Prefecture: university-wide recruitment suspended from 2024), the Faculty of Education at Kawamura Gakuen Women's University (Chiba Prefecture: undergraduate recruitment suspended from 2025), and the Department of Child Education, Faculty of Child Studies at Nagoya Ryujo Women's College (Aichi Prefecture: university-wide recruitment suspended from 2026). The Department of Child Education, Faculty of Human Development at Soai University (Osaka Prefecture: department recruitment suspended from 2026) is the second of these to do so.
reference:[Soai University] Department of Child Education: Suspension of student recruitment from 8 onwards
