Keio University and Kyoritsu University of Pharmacy, both based in Tokyo's Minato Ward, concluded an agreement Monday for Kyoritsu's merger into Keio on April 1, 2008, Keio University said.
Under the accord between the two private universities, Keio will have a pharmaceutical faculty and graduate school pharmaceutical division, both to be located on the current Kyoritsu campus.
All the current Kyoritsu students will be transferred to Keio upon the merger as the pharmaceutical university will be disbanded.
Keio University currently has nine undergraduate faculties and 11 graduate departments.
Kyoritsu University of Pharmacy has only one pharmaceutical school for undergraduates and one for graduates.
The two universities have traditionally had links as Kyoritsu was established by a Keio graduate.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070326/kyodo/d8o3o5tg0.html
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Panel eyes exams for college graduation
As a part of an effort to maintain high educational standards in undergraduate schools, the government has agreed to study the introduction of graduation exams for undergraduates to ensure students reach the expected level of academic achievement before they graduate, government sources said.
The Education Rebuilding Council, a powerful advisory body to the prime minister, on Tuesday mapped out the plan under which graduation from university would be contingent on the result of an undergraduate examination administered by the university.
The council is likely to include the plan in its second report to be submitted in May. "Even though some students haven't learned simple multiplication, some universities allow them to enter--though this is an extreme example," a council member said during the meeting.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070322TDY02004.htm
The Education Rebuilding Council, a powerful advisory body to the prime minister, on Tuesday mapped out the plan under which graduation from university would be contingent on the result of an undergraduate examination administered by the university.
The council is likely to include the plan in its second report to be submitted in May. "Even though some students haven't learned simple multiplication, some universities allow them to enter--though this is an extreme example," a council member said during the meeting.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070322TDY02004.htm
Monday, March 12, 2007
Rural universities pinning hopes on makeovers
Due to the falling birthrate, the total student body quota of universities will exceed the number of prospective students in the near future. Considering this, rural universities are increasingly wary as students tend to prefer well-known urban universities such as those in Tokyo and Osaka.
To survive this harsh competition, many universities are trying a variety of approaches to attract more students.
Akita Keizaihoka University has decided to change its name to North Asia University on April 1.
The school has already notified prospective freshmen by letter, saying the university is determined to meet new challenges, unconstrained by its past image. The university decided to change its name following an observation by Ken Koizumi, president of the university, that the school brand value "may have its expiration date."
Nasu University, a single-department college in Nasu-Shiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, that opened in 1999, has moved its campus to Utsunomiya and changed its name to Utsunomiya Kyowa University. The name of its urban economics department also has been changed to the City Life Department.
The school's enrollment had fallen below the quota just four years after its founding. In the 2004 academic year, the number of students was only about half of its capacity of 800. The new campus, a seven-story building, is located in the most urbanized area in the prefecture, about 700 meters from JR Utsunomiya Station.
In an effort to lure young people, the university has set up courses with colorful names such as "Become a student CEO," as well as home economics ones, mainly for female students, and apparel industry studies.
Meanwhile, public and private universities in Tochigi Prefecture established the Consortium of Universities in Tochigi in April 2005. Member schools of the consortium cooperate in such ways as acknowledging academic credits earned in other universities and offering extramural lectures.
Similar programs have also been adopted in Yamagata, Yamanashi and other prefectures.
Another attempt to attract students, adopted by two departments of Hokuriku University in Kanazawa starting this year, is to accept admission on a recommendation basis from all 5,200 full-time comprehensive high schools across the nation.
Hiroshima University held education counseling sessions in 11 cities across the nation in 2006.
In the Tokyo, Osaka and Takamatsu sessions, it even offered students lectures on its past entrance exams.
Hiroshi Kuroki, a journalist who specializes in education, said, "What's important for the universities is to work on reforming themselves with an eye to 10 or 20 years from now, and not to resort to employing cheap gimmicks just to gain popularity."
(Mar. 9, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070309TDY03002.htm
To survive this harsh competition, many universities are trying a variety of approaches to attract more students.
Akita Keizaihoka University has decided to change its name to North Asia University on April 1.
The school has already notified prospective freshmen by letter, saying the university is determined to meet new challenges, unconstrained by its past image. The university decided to change its name following an observation by Ken Koizumi, president of the university, that the school brand value "may have its expiration date."
Nasu University, a single-department college in Nasu-Shiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, that opened in 1999, has moved its campus to Utsunomiya and changed its name to Utsunomiya Kyowa University. The name of its urban economics department also has been changed to the City Life Department.
The school's enrollment had fallen below the quota just four years after its founding. In the 2004 academic year, the number of students was only about half of its capacity of 800. The new campus, a seven-story building, is located in the most urbanized area in the prefecture, about 700 meters from JR Utsunomiya Station.
In an effort to lure young people, the university has set up courses with colorful names such as "Become a student CEO," as well as home economics ones, mainly for female students, and apparel industry studies.
Meanwhile, public and private universities in Tochigi Prefecture established the Consortium of Universities in Tochigi in April 2005. Member schools of the consortium cooperate in such ways as acknowledging academic credits earned in other universities and offering extramural lectures.
Similar programs have also been adopted in Yamagata, Yamanashi and other prefectures.
Another attempt to attract students, adopted by two departments of Hokuriku University in Kanazawa starting this year, is to accept admission on a recommendation basis from all 5,200 full-time comprehensive high schools across the nation.
Hiroshima University held education counseling sessions in 11 cities across the nation in 2006.
In the Tokyo, Osaka and Takamatsu sessions, it even offered students lectures on its past entrance exams.
Hiroshi Kuroki, a journalist who specializes in education, said, "What's important for the universities is to work on reforming themselves with an eye to 10 or 20 years from now, and not to resort to employing cheap gimmicks just to gain popularity."
(Mar. 9, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070309TDY03002.htm
Thursday, March 08, 2007
English Orated Here - Asian universities switch to English
To stop the flight of their best and brightest to the Ivy League, top Asian universities are moving to give many, even most, of their courses in English.
Asia has long yearned to create its own Ivy League for the great mass of students who can't afford to make it to Harvard. Now it has found a shortcut.
Two years ago Yonsei, South Korea's oldest and most prestigious private university, set up the Underwood International College (UIC), which offers a four-year program of all-English-language classes to compete with the best institutions in America and Europe.
By providing generous scholarships and high pay, the UIC has attracted top students and faculty members from around the world, making it an academic landmark in Asia. "Classes here are as tight as Ivy League classes," says Park Se Ung, a freshman at Yonsei's UIC. "For the final exam, I couldn't sleep at all for days."
Meanwhile Yonsei itself is offering more classes in English to keep students from seeking overseas study. Other elite universities, including Korea University and Ewha Woman's University, also recently created English-only undergraduate programs. And the same basic strategy—designed to both prevent brain drain and attract top foreign students—is spreading beyond Korea.
While the national universities of Singapore and Hong Kong have long been considered good alternatives to U.S. schools because of their heavy use of English, other non-English-speaking countries like Japan and China have introduced similar programs. Japan's prestigious Waseda University, for example, has run a successful English college since 2004, which focuses heavily on Asian culture, history, politics and other liberal arts. Beijing University and other top Chinese schools have also increased their English-language class offerings.
Asia's top students are signing up. For decades, the region's brightest flocked to the United States and other English-speaking nations for college. The big-name diplomas they earned—and the English fluency they gained—guaranteed success, whether they remained abroad or returned home. But since the start of the decade, more elite Asian universities have begun to promise the same thing, and students are jumping at the chance to stay closer to home—particularly in Northeast Asia.
The shift is driven in part by growing job opportunities in the region, where students with domestic school connections tend to be rewarded in finding jobs because of their strong alumni ties. Post-9/11 visa restrictions for foreign students and rising tuition rates in the U.S. have also accelerated the trend. "Asian students have to have Asian networks to have successful careers," says Mo Jongryn, dean of Yonsei's UIC. "Even if they work on Wall Street, Asians are usually sent to Asian desks."
No country has embraced the move more than Korea. In 2002, for instance, Korea University offered less than 10 percent of its classes in English, but the proportion rose to 35 percent last year and is expected to hit 60 percent by 2010. The effort is part of a desperate attempt to retain students; Korea is perhaps the world's biggest supplier of overseas students, with nearly 200,000 from the elementary to the graduate level currently studying abroad.
About a quarter of them study in the U.S., constituting the biggest foreign-student group there. In addition to creating a brain drain, their flight has lasting economic and social implications: overseas students spend roughly $5 billion a year. And fathers working alone in Korea who send money to their children and wives overseas are called "lonely geese" because of their migratory visits to their families; their tragic life stories, including suicides, often make headlines.
South Korea also aims to attract more foreign students by globalizing its universities. Currently, only 0.2 percent of students in the country are foreign—the lowest in the OECD. To lure others, universities are capitalizing on the rising overseas presence of Korean companies. Yonsei's UIC, for example, last year introduced a regional corporate scholarship program, where enterprises like Samsung and LG select and sponsor students from countries where they do business.
Terry Santoso, who ranked in the top 5 percent at his Jakarta high school, originally planned to study at Nanyang Technology University in Singapore, but joined the UIC last fall after LG offered him an $18,500-a-year scholarship. Santoso is also guaranteed a job with LG when he returns to Indonesia after graduation. In addition to the financial support, he is relieved to be studying in a familiar environment. "I don't have the kind of culture shock I would have in the U.S.," he says. "It is easier to adapt to Korean culture because it is the same Asian culture as my country's."
To be sure, Asia's new English-language universities face some significant hurdles. Standards generally remain below those of top Western schools; more than three quarters of the world's top-100 universities are in Europe and America, according to the Times of London Education Supplement. Critics argue that the academic standards in Asia's English-only classes are especially weak because both professors and students lack language proficiency.
At Korea University, the push to introduce English-language education has been so strong that the faculty recently voted out the president who initiated the campaign. Furthermore, Asia's universities face new competition from Western institutions seeking to establish a presence in the region: Stanford and Johns Hopkins recently set up campuses in China and MIT in Singapore.
Still, the new English-language schools are confident that even the Ivy League will soon be running scared. According to Yonsei's UIC, the average SAT score of its students is close to that of Northwestern University. Korean student Park Se Ung recently chose to attend Yonsei over Cornell, where he was also accepted. "If I decide to work in Korea, Yonsei would give me a better chance than Cornell," he says. "Besides, I get to stay closer to my family for four years, while saving their money."
John Frankl, a UIC professor who taught at Harvard before coming to Korea three years ago, argues that his Korean students are just as motivated and bright as Harvard's. "Top private universities in the U.S. may not be affected by us that much," he says. "But state and other private schools will be seriously challenged."
Jean Kang, a political scientist at Ewha, says graduates from the university's English undergraduate program were hired by top-notch global firms like Baker & McKenzie or accepted by prestigious graduate programs like Harvard Law School. "These are the future leaders of Asia with perfect English and strong Asian connections," she says. And diplomas from some of the finest schools in the region.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17202839/site/newsweek/
Asia has long yearned to create its own Ivy League for the great mass of students who can't afford to make it to Harvard. Now it has found a shortcut.
Two years ago Yonsei, South Korea's oldest and most prestigious private university, set up the Underwood International College (UIC), which offers a four-year program of all-English-language classes to compete with the best institutions in America and Europe.
By providing generous scholarships and high pay, the UIC has attracted top students and faculty members from around the world, making it an academic landmark in Asia. "Classes here are as tight as Ivy League classes," says Park Se Ung, a freshman at Yonsei's UIC. "For the final exam, I couldn't sleep at all for days."
Meanwhile Yonsei itself is offering more classes in English to keep students from seeking overseas study. Other elite universities, including Korea University and Ewha Woman's University, also recently created English-only undergraduate programs. And the same basic strategy—designed to both prevent brain drain and attract top foreign students—is spreading beyond Korea.
While the national universities of Singapore and Hong Kong have long been considered good alternatives to U.S. schools because of their heavy use of English, other non-English-speaking countries like Japan and China have introduced similar programs. Japan's prestigious Waseda University, for example, has run a successful English college since 2004, which focuses heavily on Asian culture, history, politics and other liberal arts. Beijing University and other top Chinese schools have also increased their English-language class offerings.
Asia's top students are signing up. For decades, the region's brightest flocked to the United States and other English-speaking nations for college. The big-name diplomas they earned—and the English fluency they gained—guaranteed success, whether they remained abroad or returned home. But since the start of the decade, more elite Asian universities have begun to promise the same thing, and students are jumping at the chance to stay closer to home—particularly in Northeast Asia.
The shift is driven in part by growing job opportunities in the region, where students with domestic school connections tend to be rewarded in finding jobs because of their strong alumni ties. Post-9/11 visa restrictions for foreign students and rising tuition rates in the U.S. have also accelerated the trend. "Asian students have to have Asian networks to have successful careers," says Mo Jongryn, dean of Yonsei's UIC. "Even if they work on Wall Street, Asians are usually sent to Asian desks."
No country has embraced the move more than Korea. In 2002, for instance, Korea University offered less than 10 percent of its classes in English, but the proportion rose to 35 percent last year and is expected to hit 60 percent by 2010. The effort is part of a desperate attempt to retain students; Korea is perhaps the world's biggest supplier of overseas students, with nearly 200,000 from the elementary to the graduate level currently studying abroad.
About a quarter of them study in the U.S., constituting the biggest foreign-student group there. In addition to creating a brain drain, their flight has lasting economic and social implications: overseas students spend roughly $5 billion a year. And fathers working alone in Korea who send money to their children and wives overseas are called "lonely geese" because of their migratory visits to their families; their tragic life stories, including suicides, often make headlines.
South Korea also aims to attract more foreign students by globalizing its universities. Currently, only 0.2 percent of students in the country are foreign—the lowest in the OECD. To lure others, universities are capitalizing on the rising overseas presence of Korean companies. Yonsei's UIC, for example, last year introduced a regional corporate scholarship program, where enterprises like Samsung and LG select and sponsor students from countries where they do business.
Terry Santoso, who ranked in the top 5 percent at his Jakarta high school, originally planned to study at Nanyang Technology University in Singapore, but joined the UIC last fall after LG offered him an $18,500-a-year scholarship. Santoso is also guaranteed a job with LG when he returns to Indonesia after graduation. In addition to the financial support, he is relieved to be studying in a familiar environment. "I don't have the kind of culture shock I would have in the U.S.," he says. "It is easier to adapt to Korean culture because it is the same Asian culture as my country's."
To be sure, Asia's new English-language universities face some significant hurdles. Standards generally remain below those of top Western schools; more than three quarters of the world's top-100 universities are in Europe and America, according to the Times of London Education Supplement. Critics argue that the academic standards in Asia's English-only classes are especially weak because both professors and students lack language proficiency.
At Korea University, the push to introduce English-language education has been so strong that the faculty recently voted out the president who initiated the campaign. Furthermore, Asia's universities face new competition from Western institutions seeking to establish a presence in the region: Stanford and Johns Hopkins recently set up campuses in China and MIT in Singapore.
Still, the new English-language schools are confident that even the Ivy League will soon be running scared. According to Yonsei's UIC, the average SAT score of its students is close to that of Northwestern University. Korean student Park Se Ung recently chose to attend Yonsei over Cornell, where he was also accepted. "If I decide to work in Korea, Yonsei would give me a better chance than Cornell," he says. "Besides, I get to stay closer to my family for four years, while saving their money."
John Frankl, a UIC professor who taught at Harvard before coming to Korea three years ago, argues that his Korean students are just as motivated and bright as Harvard's. "Top private universities in the U.S. may not be affected by us that much," he says. "But state and other private schools will be seriously challenged."
Jean Kang, a political scientist at Ewha, says graduates from the university's English undergraduate program were hired by top-notch global firms like Baker & McKenzie or accepted by prestigious graduate programs like Harvard Law School. "These are the future leaders of Asia with perfect English and strong Asian connections," she says. And diplomas from some of the finest schools in the region.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17202839/site/newsweek/
Friday, March 02, 2007
Colleges offer carrots to honors students
National universities have increasingly introduced systems to financially support honors students, including scholarships and tuition waivers, since the entities became independent administrative institutions in 2004.
Although similar programs have long been employed by private universities, 23 of 83 national universities have either introduced or have decided to implement programs in the past three years. These include Osaka and Hiroshima universities, while Hitotsubashi University will launch a program in April.
The trend stems from the universities' efforts to attract better students as the number of applicants will match the number of entrants accepted by universities this spring, resulting in fierce competition among universities for top students.
Osaka University started a scholarship program for high academic achievers in the 2005 academic year. The program provides a 200,000 yen scholarship for students with strong academic records between their first year and the first half of their second year, during which time students take liberal arts classes.
In the first year, 46 students out of 415 who applied received the scholarship, while 49 of the 242 applicants received it in the second year.
One of the university's academic goals is to provide students with a well-rounded education.
Eiichi Takasugi, head of the Institute for Higher Education Research and Practice, said, "It's important for students to study a variety of subjects before specializing, so we hope the scholarship will motivate students academically."
Hiroshima University's programs, which were introduced this academic year, provide 200,000 yen to new entrants who achieve high scores on its entrance examination. Outstanding students in the second or upper years have half of their annual tuition, or 267,900 yen, waived.
This academic year, 52 new entrants and 80 other students enjoyed the benefits. A university spokesman said, "We hope more high school students will want to enroll in Hiroshima University and remain motivated after entering the school."
Shimane and Kagawa universities also began halving tuition for honors students in their second year or higher this academic year. Sixty-six Shimane University students and 42 Kagawa University students were chosen for the rewards.
The trend has been accelerated because national universities have been allowed broader authority over their finances since becoming independent administrative institutions.
Universities can independently change budget allocations for scholarships and tuition waivers.
Hitotsubashi University boasts that its scholarship program will give students the largest allowance per student among national university scholarship programs.
The university covers the program with a fund comprising donations that was established in 2004. The program will give 80,000 yen a month for a year to 12 students in each of the second, third and fourth years.
A university spokesman said, "We hope we can attract better young people by supporting our outstanding students."
According to major cram school Kawaijuku Educational Institution, 371 of 561 private schools across the nation have a program to give preferential treatment to those who pass their entrance examinations with high marks.
Satoru Kanbe of Kawaijuku Educational Institute said, "Because the competition among major private universities and national universities has intensified, national universities pay more attention to developing outstanding students, so more universities will introduce programs to give preferential treatment to honors students."
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070227TDY02009.htm
Although similar programs have long been employed by private universities, 23 of 83 national universities have either introduced or have decided to implement programs in the past three years. These include Osaka and Hiroshima universities, while Hitotsubashi University will launch a program in April.
The trend stems from the universities' efforts to attract better students as the number of applicants will match the number of entrants accepted by universities this spring, resulting in fierce competition among universities for top students.
Osaka University started a scholarship program for high academic achievers in the 2005 academic year. The program provides a 200,000 yen scholarship for students with strong academic records between their first year and the first half of their second year, during which time students take liberal arts classes.
In the first year, 46 students out of 415 who applied received the scholarship, while 49 of the 242 applicants received it in the second year.
One of the university's academic goals is to provide students with a well-rounded education.
Eiichi Takasugi, head of the Institute for Higher Education Research and Practice, said, "It's important for students to study a variety of subjects before specializing, so we hope the scholarship will motivate students academically."
Hiroshima University's programs, which were introduced this academic year, provide 200,000 yen to new entrants who achieve high scores on its entrance examination. Outstanding students in the second or upper years have half of their annual tuition, or 267,900 yen, waived.
This academic year, 52 new entrants and 80 other students enjoyed the benefits. A university spokesman said, "We hope more high school students will want to enroll in Hiroshima University and remain motivated after entering the school."
Shimane and Kagawa universities also began halving tuition for honors students in their second year or higher this academic year. Sixty-six Shimane University students and 42 Kagawa University students were chosen for the rewards.
The trend has been accelerated because national universities have been allowed broader authority over their finances since becoming independent administrative institutions.
Universities can independently change budget allocations for scholarships and tuition waivers.
Hitotsubashi University boasts that its scholarship program will give students the largest allowance per student among national university scholarship programs.
The university covers the program with a fund comprising donations that was established in 2004. The program will give 80,000 yen a month for a year to 12 students in each of the second, third and fourth years.
A university spokesman said, "We hope we can attract better young people by supporting our outstanding students."
According to major cram school Kawaijuku Educational Institution, 371 of 561 private schools across the nation have a program to give preferential treatment to those who pass their entrance examinations with high marks.
Satoru Kanbe of Kawaijuku Educational Institute said, "Because the competition among major private universities and national universities has intensified, national universities pay more attention to developing outstanding students, so more universities will introduce programs to give preferential treatment to honors students."
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070227TDY02009.htm
Local companies to build schools using ODA
In an effort to reduce costs, the Foreign Ministry has decided in principle to use local companies to build schools overseas with official development assistance grants, starting in fiscal 2007, the ministry said Monday.
Local companies will be used from the design stage as it will cost less to employ them than Japanese construction companies.
With the government in the process of cutting spending, the ODA budget has been reduced and the ministry therefore hopes to cut the cost of building schools overseas by more than 30 percent annually, on average, by fiscal 2011.
The total cost of a pilot project conducted in Senegal in fiscal 2006 was 57 percent less than similar projects that did not utilize local firms. It was also confirmed there were no concerns with safety and other aspects of quality.
Building schools is said to be simpler than constructing other buildings, so the ministry believes there should be many cases in which the design can also be left to local companies.
However, due to high-technological requirements, Japanese designers will be used as before for schools that double as evacuation sites for natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070227TDY02003.htm
Local companies will be used from the design stage as it will cost less to employ them than Japanese construction companies.
With the government in the process of cutting spending, the ODA budget has been reduced and the ministry therefore hopes to cut the cost of building schools overseas by more than 30 percent annually, on average, by fiscal 2011.
The total cost of a pilot project conducted in Senegal in fiscal 2006 was 57 percent less than similar projects that did not utilize local firms. It was also confirmed there were no concerns with safety and other aspects of quality.
Building schools is said to be simpler than constructing other buildings, so the ministry believes there should be many cases in which the design can also be left to local companies.
However, due to high-technological requirements, Japanese designers will be used as before for schools that double as evacuation sites for natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070227TDY02003.htm
Todai to increase foreign research staff five fold
The University of Tokyo is about to embark on a major drive to offer a more international outlook in the hope of raising its relatively low standing among the world's universities.
It plans to increase its foreign staff to 1,300, five times the current level, officials said.
Todai, as the nation's most prestigious university is known, plans to raise the total number of foreign staff members, including professors, lecturers and assistants, from 250 to 1,300, officials said.
The number of facilities abroad will also be increased from the current 22 to 130.
The university is seen to be lagging behind other universities in its use of foreign researchers.
Officials believe this partly explains the university's relatively low position in worldwide rankings
The number of foreign staffers at the university accounts for only about 5 percent of the total 5,000 positions.
The percentage is much lower than Sophia University's 48 percent and still slightly lower than Waseda University's 8 percent. Both of those institutions are also in Tokyo.
Currently, the university has 22 research facilities abroad, mainly in the United States, Europe and Asia.
While it has more overseas facilities than Waseda or Tokyo's Keio University--which have nine and eight, respectively--Kyoto University has 12 more than the University of Tokyo.
Officials said the university decided to increase the number to 130 to mark the 130th anniversary this spring of Todai's founding.
The university plans to build a 220-room dormitory for foreign staff and students near its campus in Hongo, Tokyo, as well as a similar facility near its campus in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture.
At present, the university has dormitories for foreign researchers and students in Tokyo and other prefectures. But with rooms for only 500, the number is insufficient. The number of foreign students alone currently stands at over 2,000.
The university also plans to create more scholarships for foreign students.
University President Hiroshi Komiyama revealed the draft plan in a recent news conference held for foreign reporters in Tokyo.
"The University of Tokyo lags behind (other prestigious universities) in its internationalization. This is one of the biggest concerns for us," he said.
Komiyama also said he would put more importance on English education within the university.
According to worldwide university rankings released by various research organizations and magazines, the University of Tokyo ranks between 12th and 19th.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200702260127.html
It plans to increase its foreign staff to 1,300, five times the current level, officials said.
Todai, as the nation's most prestigious university is known, plans to raise the total number of foreign staff members, including professors, lecturers and assistants, from 250 to 1,300, officials said.
The number of facilities abroad will also be increased from the current 22 to 130.
The university is seen to be lagging behind other universities in its use of foreign researchers.
Officials believe this partly explains the university's relatively low position in worldwide rankings
The number of foreign staffers at the university accounts for only about 5 percent of the total 5,000 positions.
The percentage is much lower than Sophia University's 48 percent and still slightly lower than Waseda University's 8 percent. Both of those institutions are also in Tokyo.
Currently, the university has 22 research facilities abroad, mainly in the United States, Europe and Asia.
While it has more overseas facilities than Waseda or Tokyo's Keio University--which have nine and eight, respectively--Kyoto University has 12 more than the University of Tokyo.
Officials said the university decided to increase the number to 130 to mark the 130th anniversary this spring of Todai's founding.
The university plans to build a 220-room dormitory for foreign staff and students near its campus in Hongo, Tokyo, as well as a similar facility near its campus in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture.
At present, the university has dormitories for foreign researchers and students in Tokyo and other prefectures. But with rooms for only 500, the number is insufficient. The number of foreign students alone currently stands at over 2,000.
The university also plans to create more scholarships for foreign students.
University President Hiroshi Komiyama revealed the draft plan in a recent news conference held for foreign reporters in Tokyo.
"The University of Tokyo lags behind (other prestigious universities) in its internationalization. This is one of the biggest concerns for us," he said.
Komiyama also said he would put more importance on English education within the university.
According to worldwide university rankings released by various research organizations and magazines, the University of Tokyo ranks between 12th and 19th.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200702260127.html
Secondary nat'l university entrance exams begin in Japan
The second round of entrance examinations for public universities and colleges began Sunday, with 154 of them conducting the tests across Japan for 253,178 applicants.
The ratio of the applicants to the offered enrollment seats stood at 3.3 times, down 0.1 point from the previous year.
The second round will be held two more times, on March 8 and March 12.
The number of applicants stands at 25,040 for the March 8 exams to be held by 12 universities and colleges with the ratio unchanged at 12.6 times, and 210,309 for the March 12 exams by 140 universities and colleges with the ratio at 9.7 times, up 0.1 point.
The secondary exams follow the unified exams held in January.
The government began organizing the unified exams for national and local government-run universities and colleges in the 1979 academic year, and upgraded them in the 1990 academic year for use also by private universities and colleges.
Japan's academic year begins in April.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070225/kyodo/d8ngktao0.html
The ratio of the applicants to the offered enrollment seats stood at 3.3 times, down 0.1 point from the previous year.
The second round will be held two more times, on March 8 and March 12.
The number of applicants stands at 25,040 for the March 8 exams to be held by 12 universities and colleges with the ratio unchanged at 12.6 times, and 210,309 for the March 12 exams by 140 universities and colleges with the ratio at 9.7 times, up 0.1 point.
The secondary exams follow the unified exams held in January.
The government began organizing the unified exams for national and local government-run universities and colleges in the 1979 academic year, and upgraded them in the 1990 academic year for use also by private universities and colleges.
Japan's academic year begins in April.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070225/kyodo/d8ngktao0.html
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