The Education, Science and Technology Ministry has decided to instruct Cyber University to improve a system under which the college gave students credits without confirming their identities, it has been learned.
The Fukuoka-based open university provides students with four-year courses with all the lectures online, allowing them to take classes on the Internet from any location.
Unlike an ordinary open university, the university does not provide any lectures in classrooms, promoting itself as a school where a student can be certified as a college graduate without ever having to go to a campus.
However, according to sources, the university was yet to confirm the identity of about 200 of the 620 students currently enrolled. It also is believed to have given most of the 200 students lecture credits, which are required to graduate from the college.
Taking these facts into consideration, the ministry concluded the college is probably violating the university establishment standards, which stipulate that universities give credits only to students who take lectures.
The ministry will consider issuing the university with improvement advice under the School Education Law, if the college does not complete confirming the identity of all students by April, the sources said.
The university, headed by Sakuji Yoshimura, a well-known Egyptologist, was opened in April by Fukuoka-based Japan Cyber Educational Institute, Ltd., in which SoftBank Corp. holds a 71 percent share.
It has two faculties, covering information technology and world heritage studies. Students have to pay at least 2.6 million yen in tuition to graduate from the university.
In autumn 2006, when giving approval for the establishment of the university, the University Chartering and School Juridical Person Council, an advisory panel to the education, science and technology minister, pointed out several problems, including the university's likely difficulty in checking whether students had really listened to online lectures.
The council then suggested 11 aspects in which the university needed to improve, including:
-- The need to confirm students' identity when they are admitted to the college and take classes online, as well as when the university gives them credits and reviews their graduation qualification.
-- The need to conduct a face-to-face orientation when students are admitted to the college.
In response to the council's suggestions, the university said it would set up a system in which students are unable to take online classes without an IC card.
However, the university has yet to start the IC card system. In addition, under the current system, anyone can listen to online classes by logging in using IDs and passwords given to students.
Under this system, the university has certified students' credits for the first semester of the 2007 academic year, using information based on the history of those who took classes and results of examinations held online.
The ministry had earlier approved a system in which the college confirms students' identities through a camera installed on a PC. But the university has never confirmed the identity of the 200 students in question using the camera system, or in person.
In such circumstances, students could have someone else take classes and examinations online to obtain credits to graduate from the university.
The ministry therefore decided to instruct the university to improve its system, citing the possibility that the school might not meet the university establishment standards.
"If we receive an instruction from the ministry, we'll accept it in good faith. We'd like to complete the identity confirmation of all the students by April," Kaiya Watanabe, the university's secretary general, said.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080121TDY02310.htm
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