Last year, some private universities became embroiled in a hot topic with their school recommendation-type selection process based solely on academic ability tests. This was because conducting academic ability tests before February 1st was deemed to be a departure from the rules set out in a notice from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. From the perspective of common sense in entrance exams, it may seem like "why now?", but if academic ability tests are banned in entrance exams this year, the methods of academic ability checks will be significantly limited. As this is an issue that concerns the entrance exam system itself, many people involved are paying close attention to how it will turn out.
Last year's academic-based year-end entrance exams were a hot topic
Generally, the so-called year-end entrance exams for comprehensive and school recommendation selection are mainly conducted through essays and interviews. The reason we say "year-end entrance exams" here is because in the case of national and public universities that require the University Entrance Common Test, even if interviews are conducted within the year, the results may not be announced until February when the results of the University Entrance Common Test are released. Generally, year-end entrance exams refer to exams that are held and results announced within the year, so here we refer to them as "year-end entrance exams."
Surprisingly, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Implementation Guidelines for University Admissions Selection," which is said to be the rule book for entrance exams, states that academic ability tests may be administered for entrance exams held within the year. The academic ability tests referred to here include individual academic ability tests (general academic ability tests, so-called paper tests), the Common University Entrance Examination, essays, interviews, practical exams, and results from qualification and certification exams. In other words, it is not prohibited to administer the individual academic ability tests that were the subject of this issue for entrance exams held within the year. However, individual academic ability tests are to be administered "from February 2st to March 1th," and this was deemed to be a deviation from the rules.
Incidentally, the contents of the "University Admissions Selection Guidelines" change almost every year. Looking at the previous year's version, it said that "tests related to each subject/course" could be used for comprehensive selection, and "studying exemptions or reducing the burden of academic ability tests" for school recommendation selection. In other words, academic ability-based entrance exams within the year were permitted. The "University Admissions Selection Guidelines", whose contents are updated every year, are notified every June. However, in the case of private universities, the outline of the next year's entrance exam is announced in early May, so the entrance exam system is basically designed based on the previous year's "University Admissions Selection Guidelines". Therefore, when a major change like this is notified in June, it becomes like a game of rock-paper-scissors after the fact, which is very difficult for both universities and high schools.
Some universities have already announced their 2026 entrance exam outlines.
In any case, the focus of this topic is on Toyo University and Daito Bunka University, and according to newspaper reports, Toyo University's academic school recommendation selection (open recruitment system, not designated school) attracted about 5 applicants, about 2026 were accepted, and the ratio was just under XNUMX:XNUMX, which drew a lot of attention from test takers. And, also according to newspaper reports, it has been announced that a similar format of entrance exam will be held for next year's XNUMX entrance exam. However, there are some changes. The current school recommendation selection will be changed to a comprehensive selection, and a recommendation letter from the school principal will no longer be necessary. And by combining academic ability tests in English and math or English and Japanese with school reports and other evaluation methods, it is being considered to make it a multifaceted and comprehensive evaluation that is not just academic ability tests. Furthermore, the next point is quite challenging, but the plan is to set up examination venues in major cities from Sapporo to Fukuoka in addition to the university itself.
Since this is essentially an expansionary policy, I am worried that Toyo University will face pressure from the government again by adopting this type of entrance examination system, but in fact the situation seems to be progressing. A hint is the discussion at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "University Entrance Examination Council." The latest version of the minutes published on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's website is from March 3th, and reading them, I find the contents very interesting.
The common understanding is that "tests that test basic and fundamental knowledge are fine"
At the conference, opinions were presented from university-related organizations (the Japan Association of National Universities, the Japan Federation of Private Universities, etc.) and high school-related organizations (the Japan Association of High School Principals, the National Federation of Prefectural Boards of Education, etc.). Among them, the Japan Federation of Private Universities put forward a reasonable opinion that, "Even if short essays, presentations, oral examinations, and results in practical skills, qualifications, and certification exams are used to grasp academic ability, which have traditionally been said to be used to grasp the abilities necessary to receive a university education, it is difficult to fully grasp and evaluate basic knowledge related to each subject with these methods."
Based on this, the Japan Association of Private Universities proposed that "careful selection should be carried out by appropriately combining two or more types of evaluation methods (short essays, interviews, practical tests, etc.) in addition to school reports for comprehensive selection and school reports and recommendations for school recommendation selection, and that as one of the evaluation methods, it should be recognized that tests on basic knowledge related to subjects should be allowed to grasp basic academic ability." If you are interested, please read the minutes, but omitting the discussion in between, the common understanding and conclusion at the meeting was that if the selection is a careful, multifaceted and comprehensive evaluation, it is acceptable to conduct tests on basic and fundamental knowledge of subjects as one of the multiple evaluation methods.
However, in addition to these, realistic opinions were also expressed, such as, while multiple applications are permitted for comprehensive selection, school recommendation selection should be limited to applying to only one school, and, since academic ability tests had already begun when the Common University Entrance Examination began, shouldn't individual academic ability tests be allowed after the Common University Entrance Examination is implemented, rather than starting on February 2st? These points show that fruitful discussions were held at the meeting.
[Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology] University Admissions Selection Council
https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chousa/koutou/112/index.html
Will all open academic ability-based school recommendation type selection processes become comprehensive type selection processes?
Discussions will continue at the University Admissions Selection Council as details are worked out, but based on the information available at this stage, it is possible that the academic ability-based entrance exams that were the subject of this issue can continue to be held this year, but some changes are likely to be necessary, as follows:
First, it will be a comprehensive selection process, not an open school recommendation process. Academic tests can be conducted, but consideration must be given to the examinees, such as checking the scope and difficulty of the questions to check basic content. In addition, "something" must be added to the academic test. This "something" must be explained in relation to the admissions policy, so the sense of each university's staff will be put to the test.
However, as mentioned above, it is not realistic to conduct interviews with 2 applicants. Therefore, one method is to score the school report, that is, to add points to the academic performance status (formerly known as the average grade point average). In that case, if the student receives all 5.0s, it is "100 points," so even if the entrance examination system is 100 points for English + 205 points for Japanese + XNUMX points for the school report = XNUMX points in total, it will still be in line with the rules. However, this is too challenging, so if I were in charge, I would be scared and would not be able to do it. Therefore, if "short essays and self-recommendation letters are submitted at the time of application and are evaluated, but are not scored," this would save face for each stakeholder and would be a gray area that would not be unreasonable in the practical aspects of conducting entrance examinations. In addition, paper interviews are also possible (this is a fairly good evaluation method).
After the new academic year's "University Admissions Selection Guidelines" are published in June, more attention than ever will be paid to what private universities will announce for their entrance examinations this year. In addition, while the number of students to be recruited is set by each university within a range not exceeding 6% of the admissions quota for school recommendation-type selection, it is also worth noting that the comprehensive selection is outside of this regulation.
