Some of the application documents for establishing a private university after XNUMX have been changed.The handbook is scheduled to be published in September of this year, but looking at the materials on the "documents describing prospects for securing students" that have been published at this stage, it seems that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has taken a tough stance on establishing private universities. can be read.In the future, it will be difficult to establish new private universities, and we will read about the strict new standards.
Current standards are more stringent than before
When establishing a new private university, there is of course a rigorous screening process.After submitting the application documents to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology approves it after examination, but the actual examination is performed by the Council for University Establishment and Educational Corporations.For the examination, many documents and supporting materials are required.The details of the documents required for the examination are explained on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology website below, but some of the documents submitted have been changed this time.It is a “document stating prospects for securing students”. It will be applied to the opening of new universities after XNUMX, but it is now required to be much stricter than the current contents.
This “document stating prospects for securing students, etc.” is literally a document explaining to the screening side that the newly established university or department can meet the admission quota.Of course, if the plan cannot meet the admission quota, it will not be approved, so the applicant who establishes the university will explain the measures for student recruitment and the trends of examinees in documents.So far, the items that are required to be explained have become more and more strict.Therefore, compared to the past, the standard hurdles indicated in the current handbook have risen.This change makes it even stricter.
When I read through the materials that have been published so far, it may be a little bit of an oversight to feel a strong intention (or rather, harshness) between the lines. We can say that the number of universities is increasing.Even if it is explained on paper that the quota can be filled, in reality things are not going according to plan.Of course, the responsibility lies with the founder of the new university, but the person who approved it may also be held responsible, and above all, if the new university does not survive, the students who enter the university will be placed in the most difficult position. .Therefore, it can be inferred that this measure was based on the idea of how to protect the rights of students.
University Establishment Approval/Notification System (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology website)
https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/koutou/ninka/1368921.htm
Required standards, etc. have become clearer and stricter
Looking at the materials that are currently being published, I get the impression that, rather than adding new standards (regulations?), the content that has been required up until now has been stipulated more clearly and strictly.
For example, in the past, it was said to take into consideration regional trends in areas where new universities were to be established, but this was changed to a more specific form of "School Basic Survey data (number of new students by prefecture where high school graduated from)". Also, using the achievements of your own university and other universities, etc., we ask you to explain from which prefecture and how many students are expected to go on to universities."Furthermore, "If there is no data to present, please explain the reason" and cut off the escape route.
In addition, we have been requesting a certain amount of analysis from other competing universities, but we have specified a more detailed analysis perspective.Specifically, "similarity of school type", "similarity of capacity", "similarity of academic field", "similarity of location", "similarity of academic ability level", etc.Those who know marketing should take this for granted, but until now it has not been shown in such a concrete way.In particular, "similarity of academic ability" in this is possible when an existing university establishes a new department, but it is difficult to obtain data etc. for a new university.
In addition, it is required to explain what the new universities, etc., are superior to compared to these competing schools.In addition, if these competing schools are short of capacity, we are asking them to show the reason why only the newly established university can fill the capacity in such a situation.
In this way, the content is much stricter than it is now, but if you think about it, it may be natural.On the contrary, you can take it as the reviewers kindly guide you on how to think about recruiting students.However, I think that the part where you write "remove subjectivity as much as possible" at the beginning is a pretty harsh word...
The degree of difficulty of the “questionnaire survey on securing students” has risen markedly
I think the most difficult part of this change is the "questionnaire survey on securing students."The content of the examination has been getting stricter every year, but this time, the standard format of the questionnaire has been almost decided.
This "questionnaire survey on securing students" is a survey that the high school teachers are responsible for. It is necessary to collect XNUMX or more answers that you want to do.In order to do so, we need to make requests to a considerable number of high schools, and it is not enough to simply collect XNUMX responses to those who wish to enter.
In the questionnaire presented this time, we ask students to set five questions, ranging from "career path after graduation" to "desired entrance examination" and "desired admission".It is said that the number of students who meet all of these five conditions must exceed the admission capacity, but this question contains extremely difficult conditions.That is the question that asks "who established the university, etc., if you wish to go on to higher education."Multiple selection is possible, but the choices are "National", "Public" and "Private".Of course, except for the metropolitan area, the number of students who answer “private school” is considered to be quite limited.
In addition, the answer options for the question "Whether or not you wish to take the exam for the newly established organization", which asks whether you want to take the exam for the newly established university, are set to "take the exam as your first choice" or "take the exam as your second choice". However, when tallying, it is instructed that only the answer "I will take the exam as my first choice" will be counted.In most cases, this questionnaire is targeted at second-year high school students, but it seems that only a limited number of high school students answer that they will take entrance exams for a newly established private university as their first choice during their second year of high school. You can
Just looking at the questions on "Who established a university, etc., if you wish to go on to higher education" and "Whether or not you wish to take the entrance exam for a newly established organization", it is clear that from XNUMX onwards, private universities that are planning to be established outside the Tokyo metropolitan area is a change in the environment that must be said that the hurdles for approval have risen dramatically.
