College admissions revamped / But system criticized for accepting students before summer vacation

More universities are recruiting students ahead of the traditional entrance exam season, and some applicants have received acceptance notices before the summer vacation.

This has been made possible by a relatively new admission system of screening students with interviews and essays instead of written exams, known as the AO (admission office) exam.

The AO exams are distinguished from general written exams and early exams for selected students recommended by high school principals. While those exams are scheduled under the Education, Science and Technology Ministry guideline, AO exams are not bound to a fixed schedule.

Under the screening-based admission, universities examine applicants' character and motivation, among other things. For the 2006 academic year, 45 national and other public universities and 380 private universities--or 70 percent of all private universities--held such screenings, with about 35,400 students, or 6 percent of the total, entering universities through the process.

Behind the move is the declining number of students along with the falling birthrate, causing competition to secure new students to intensify. Some schools are having trouble attracting enough applicants to fill the available places.

A small university in the Tokyo metropolitan area started accepting applications this month and will offer places to students before the end of the month. An official said: "We want to accept high school students who pick our university as first choice at the earliest possible time. This admission system works for students who want to decide where they'll go as soon as possible and for universities that want to secure new students."

According to preparatory school sour-ces, universities often announce the results of the screening in autumn, around when they start accepting applications from recommended students. But in the past couple of years, more and more universities have brought the schedule forward, starting the screening process and/or informing applicants of the screening result before the summer vacation.

According to universities' admission guides for the next academic year, at least seven schools will unofficially inform students this month that they passed the screening and would be accepted, and 15 schools would do so in July. Nearly 30 other schools plan to start the screening process this month and next.

Critics say the scheme is an aotagai (green harvest), referring to the enclosure of students considerably ahead of the appropriate time.

A 49-year-old teacher in Tokyo said, "If students are admitted at such an early time, they won't study in class after the summer vacation."

Kenichi Otsuka, an official at educational publisher Obunsha Co., said universities that struggle to attract students, such as women's universities and provincial schools, tend to bring forward the schedule. "Some universities hold their own elaborate screenings, but others hold interviews and let applicants submit essays as a formality," he said.

Vocational schools, which also suffer declining number of students, will start screening-based admissions as well. The association of Tokyo vocational schools plans to start screening on July 1. A school in Hyogo Prefecture also will introduce the scheme for the next academic year.
(Jun. 12, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070612TDY02006.htm