[Aoyama Gakuin University]

Interview with President Hiroshi Sakamoto 2021 Entrance Examination Results

Although the number of applicants has decreased, there is also a response to the entrance examination reform centered on the faculty's own examination.

The point of reform is the faculty's own examination

　Aoyama Gakuin University conducted the general selection for the 2021 entrance examination by three methods: "Individual faculty schedule", "All faculty schedule", and "Selection of enrollees using the common test for university admission".The most important point is the "individual faculty schedule".Many faculties have introduced a method of selection based on a combination of the common test for university admission (hereinafter referred to as the common test) and the original test of each faculty.

　In addition, the original examination is conducted with "comprehensive questions" and "essays" consisting of multiple subjects that do not depend on a specific subject / subject, and the answer method is mainly written / essay formulas.Some faculties take exams for specific subjects / subjects, but the answering method includes description and essay formulas.Since the questioning policy for unique questions is based on the admission policy (AP) of each faculty, depending on the faculty, the score of the English / qualification examination may be used to select enrollees based on each AP.The reason for using the descriptive and essay formula is that we should carefully evaluate each student's thinking ability, judgment ability, and expressive ability based on their solid knowledge and skills.

Linked with reform of elementary and secondary education

　Behind this reform is the reform of the high school connection system promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. From the 2025 entrance exam, high school students who have studied under the new course of study will challenge the university entrance exam.I sympathized with the idea of ​​reform, which is to shift elementary and secondary education to education that emphasizes thinking, judgment, and expressiveness, and to nurture the young people who will lead Japan in the future, and decided to reform.

　On the other hand, in response to these reforms, the Central Council for Education's report (Note) also pointed out that the current knowledge-oriented university entrance exams may be an obstacle.College entrance exams must change with school education below high school.In fact, national universities are selecting enrollees by combining common tests and individual exams, and there is a survey result that nearly 90% of individual exams at national universities have written and essay questions.

　However, changing everything at once has some difficult tasks, including the preparation status of the examinees.Therefore, we consider the first year of reform to be a transition period, and we are also using the conventional so-called private university three-subject type method.

The number of applicants is expected to decrease to some extent

　As a result, the number of applicants for the "Individual Faculty Schedule" decreased in the first year, but I was prepared for a certain decrease from the time I decided to reform.One of the reasons is that it is a method combined with a common test.The first common test is an unknown test for students.It is natural that the examinees are worried.The other is that the written and essay questions were given as an undergraduate-specific exam.No other private university has such a large scale of exams that differ from traditional exams.

　What was unexpected was the spread of the new corona infection.As a result, examinees have taken more cautious application behavior, and the number of applications from areas other than the metropolitan area has decreased.Therefore, we believe that the number of applicants has decreased more than expected.However, despite the decrease in the number of applicants for all private universities, the "all faculty schedule" has increased by 107% from the previous year.

Each faculty is more proactively involved in selection

　The good thing about implementing the reforms is that some high schools highly valued the descriptive and essay questions.From high schools that have been practicing proactive, interactive, and deep learning, they accepted that it was a question format that did not require any special measures because it was only necessary to demonstrate the acquired abilities.In addition, because it is an issue unique to the faculty within the university, the teachers of each faculty are more deeply involved in the selection of new students.Comprehensive questions and descriptive / essay questions require more questioners and graders than before.More teachers have been deeply involved in the selection of new students, and have discussed the image of the examinees they want more seriously than ever before.Since it is a descriptive and essay formula, we strictly check whether the scoring is fair and impartial.In some faculties, the scoring work took longer than ever.

　The content of the undergraduate examination is, so to speak, a message to the examinees.And the answer that the examinee made is the answer to the message.In the first year of the reform, there were still some issues to be solved, but in the future, if there are any points that we should reflect on, we would like to improve them from the perspective of the examinees.
I want you to choose a university that can develop your personality

　I would like to continue to make efforts so that the examinees can clearly understand the intention of the university, which was included in the selection of new students.When choosing a university, students should think for themselves about the content of their studies, qualifications for acquisition, and what kind of path they will take in the future, regardless of the entrance examination difficulty ranking or deviation value. I want it.I want you to choose from the perspective of which university can really develop your personality.As a result, I wouldn't be so happy if it was our university.We will continue to take on challenges, aiming to be the reality, not the ideal theory.

[Rikkyo University]

Interview with Professor Jun Ishikawa, Vice President, 2021 Entrance Examination Results

Education reform is an opportunity for entrance examination reform, and the number of applicants is increasing due to the expansion of examination opportunities

Full introduction of external exams and expansion of exam opportunities

　One of the points of reform in the 2021 entrance examination of Rikkyo University is the full introduction of the English qualification / certification test (hereinafter referred to as the certification test) and the common test for university admission (hereinafter referred to as the common test).With the exception of some exams in the Faculty of Letters, the university's own English exams will be abolished and the scores of the designated exams or the English grades of the common test will be used for pass / fail judgment.If you apply for multiple scores, the score converted to the highest score will be used for pass / fail judgment, and there will be no advantages or disadvantages depending on the type of test.

　Another point is the expansion of exam opportunities.For the first time in eastern Japan, we have implemented the "All Schedules and All Faculty Schedules" in which all faculties can take the examination with the same schedule and system in principle.We want to open the door as much as possible to students who agree with our educational philosophy and curriculum and are enthusiastic about studying at our university, and we have expanded the opportunities to take the same department from a maximum of 2 times to 5 times. bottom.It is also possible to apply for different departments on different exam dates.

Against the background of curriculum reform of English education

　Education reform is behind this reform.In order to further enhance the education of "English Rikkyo" that supports global education, we have implemented a curriculum reform of English education.Therefore, we aimed to make the curriculum reform work more effectively by firmly measuring the four English skills even at the entrance examination stage.

　In addition to the traditional small-group course "English Discussion", a new course "English Debate" has been set up, and a "CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)" course has been set up to learn one's own specialized courses in English. We have put in place a language education system for "learning in English".With an understanding of this curriculum, it was an entrance examination reform necessary to obtain enrollees who were motivated and capable of studying at Rikkyo University.

The new entrance examination system is widely understood and the number of applicants is increasing

　The fact that the number of applicants has actually increased is not the purpose, but I am very grateful.The reason for the increase is that more test takers had higher test scores than expected.Our university originally has a high proportion of examinees in the metropolitan area, but the fact that there are many high school students with exam scores in the metropolitan area also has an effect.Perhaps these global interests responded to our educational reforms, and the new entrance examination system matched it.On an applicant basis, 70% of candidates apply for both exam scores and English grades on the common test, 24% on the English grades on the common test, and 6% on the exam scores only.From this figure, it can be seen that the examinees fully understood the entrance examination system of the university and applied for it.

　In addition, the number of concurrent applications per person has increased from 1.98 to 2.25 due to the increased opportunities to take the examination.This result shows that the examinees who have a strong desire to study at Rikkyo University took the opportunity to apply concurrently.

Diversity and multiple perspectives are important

　Regarding the new students under the new entrance examination system, the lessons have just begun and I do not know the details, but from the past achievements, the entrance examinations that emphasize the four English skills are strongly global-oriented, and there are also those who wish to study abroad. It has the characteristic of being many.Therefore, I am looking forward to the future growth of students, whether similar trends will appear.

　Also, on an applicant basis, the ratio of the metropolitan area has increased slightly compared to the past, but this is one of the issues.Student diversity is important in developing global education.Underlying this is the importance of a pluralistic perspective.Therefore, even if you take one place of origin, it is desirable to have a variety of people.However, it is not limited to Japan.In the future, I think it is necessary to consider curriculum reforms and the accompanying entrance examination reforms so that more students can be accepted from overseas.There are various students from various origins, ages, and genders on campus, and it is ideal to stimulate each other.We will continue to steadily reform toward that goal.

　Right now, we are experiencing that what we have taken for granted is not.There are many things that common sense in Japan is not common sense in the world.In the future society, it is extremely important to have such a multidimensional perspective.In addition, as seen in this new coronavirus infection, the factors that affect society and people are complex and cannot be solved by a simple method.However, we must take complex challenges in a complex way and nevertheless work on them and move forward.I would like students who are motivated to tackle such issues to aim for our university.We are waiting for you with a curriculum that meets that desire.