Monday, November 09, 2009

Universities may be forced to give applicants key statistics

All universities likely will be required to provide prospective tertiary students with certain key statistics, such as dropout and employment rates, according to a draft plan for a review of university establishment standards drawn up by the Education, Science and Technology Ministry. On Thursday, the ministry submitted the draft to a university section meeting of the Central Council for Education, an advisory panel to the education minister, for deliberation.

The proposed changes aim to ensure students taking entrance exams receive key information about the national, public and private university of their choice. The draft lists 17 items of information across five fields that universities would be required to disclose.

The standards likely will be revised after the proposed changes are examined further this fiscal year.

The list is divided into five fields the ministry thinks universities should focus on to promote high educational standards: education, students, organization, economic framework and learning environment.

Information pertaining to students would include the dropout rate, which is an indicator of the difficulty of gaining the marks needed to proceed to the next year of study and how many students attend a university without a real intention of completing courses, such as those who failed to gain admittance to their first-choice university।

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20091108TDY03303.htm

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