Govt to freeze standard fee for national universities

The government plans to leave unchanged the annual tuition fee of 535,800 yen it sets as a standard charge for national universities until the 2009 academic year, when the period of the current midterm plan stipulated by the National University Corporation Law ends, government sources said Sunday.

By keeping the standard charge at the current level for academic year 2007, the government aims to persuade national universities not to raise their tuition fees and to lay the groundwork for them to introduce their own fee-reducing initiatives, the sources said.

The freeze on the standard charge will be formally approved when the education budget is compiled for the 2007 academic year.

It is conventional practice for national universities to raise their tuition fees every two years.

In academic year 2004, national universities transformed themselves into incorporated entities under the National University Corporation Law in return for greater independence.

National universities used to charge uniform tuition fees, but after they became incorporated entities, they were allowed to set their own tuition fees within an upper limit of 10 percent of the government-set standard charge.

However, since a rise in standard charges is linked to cuts in state subsidies, many national universities kept their tuition fees at the same level as the standard charge when it was raised for academic year 2005.

At present, 81 of the nation's 89 national universities' tuition fees are the same as the standard charge, with six charging less and two national universities' special research courses charging more than the standard charge.

Masuo Aizawa, chairman of the Japan Association of National Universities and president of Tokyo Institute of Technology, said if the standard charge was increased every two years there would be little leeway left for national universities to set their own tuition fees.

As such, the government decided to put on hold the increase in standard charges for academic year 2007, a year that should have followed the conventional practice to raise the standard charge, the sources said.

With the standard charge frozen, many national universities likely will keep their tuition fees at current levels for the time being.

Until academic year 2009, incorporated national universities will be able to run their operations with more freedom, which might lead some of them to take the initiative in raising or reducing their tuition fees.

Due to the nation's low birthrate and aging society, it has become more difficult for universities to lure students. Therefore, famous universities may raise tuition fees to improve their research facilities to attract more students, while other universities may lower their tuition fees.

When the new university system was launched in 1949, the tuition fee for national universities was a uniform 3,600 yen. It increased 10-fold to 36,000 yen in 1972.

Since then, it has continued increasing due to rising food prices and the need to narrow the tuition gap between national and private universities.
(Dec. 18, 2006)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20061218TDY02008.htm