Education: Alma maters fight to survive, woo students

At a time when the number of undergraduate applicants matches openings at most universities--meaning almost anyone can go to college--many institutions may close their doors due to a lack of students.

While the college-age population is dropping along with the falling birthrate, the number of universities has surged as many two-year colleges have turned into more popular four-year institutions.

To survive, some schools are merging, but many others can only wait in fear for the day when they will be forced to shut down.

That sad scenario became a reality for privately-run Tohwa University in Fukuoka, which opened in 1967 with only an engineering department. It did not hold an entrance ceremony this April, a time when new students enter universities and colleges nationwide.

Last August, it announced that prospective students need not apply in and after fiscal 2007.
The institution fell into the red in fiscal 2005 and the number of applicants failed to reach the enrollment quota in fiscal 2006.

In December, it was decided that the university would close at the end of fiscal 2009 when all current students graduate, according to university operators.

A 22-year-old man who graduated in March said he learned about the plan via the Internet. Later, he received a brief note about the decision during class.

He watched as instructors were fired one by one. His professor was soon gone, too, leaving him and fellow students who had studied under the professor in a fix, not even knowing how to operate lab equipment for their studies.

School management said it tried in vain to revitalize the institution.

So far, 21 instructors, about half, have been let go. Thirteen are suing the university to have their dismissals nullified, contending management has sufficient operating funds.

"The university, in a way, functions as an institution for the re-education of graduates. So, without their alma mater, graduates will probably feel that support is gone," said a 53-year-old professor who was fired last October.

Universities that try to rebuild often find there are no easy answers.

Hagi International University, which opened in 1999 in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, suffered from the start because of its bad location. In its first year, only 70 percent of the 300 student quota in the international communication department--the only one offered--was filled.

In the 2005 school year, only 42 students enrolled. The institution filed for bankruptcy that June.

With financial help from the Hiroshima-based Shiomi Holdings Corp., the institution marked a fresh start this April as Yamaguchi University of Human Welfare and Culture.

But only 24 enrolled, far below its quota of 140.

To increase enrollment, the university, which trains students to be social-welfare professionals and nursery school teachers, offers lectures given by top experts in Tokyo via video linkup. The university is also trying to woo local senior high school graduates.

A teacher at a nearby school that sent three graduates to the university said the institution's effort to encourage students to obtain qualifications is an advantage for those hoping to go to college.

Parents, watching their pocketbooks, prefer to send their children to a university close to home as long as the institution offers job-related qualifications.

An index often used to judge a university's financial health measures the difference between income and expenditures against total income. According to the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, the ratio stood at zero or below in fiscal 2005 at 138 of 504 entities operating private universities. However, in fiscal 2000, the ratio stood at zero or below at only 69 of 435 entities.

"The action needed, in addition to streamlining university operations, is to make sure students enroll at all costs," stressed Yasuhiko Nishii, who is in charge of advising private university management at the corporation.

Naoto Shimoyama, a senior analyst at Rating and Investment Information Inc., said 70-80 percent of income at private universities comes from tuition and enrollment fees and that the main factor in rating universities is their skill at attracting students.

And with the number of 18-year-olds set to decline in the coming decade, the fight for survival among universities will only grow more fierce.(IHT/Asahi: June 9,2007)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200706090056.html