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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE, SPORTS AND CULTURE 1995 > Remaking Universities Chapter 4 Section 1 3

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Remaking Universities: Continuing Reform of Higher Education
Chapter 4 Toward Further University Reform
Section 1. Creating a New Vision for Universities to Meet the Needs of an Increasingly Diverse Student Body
3. Diversifying the Entrant Selection Process


Efforts to improve university entrance examinations have focused primarily on the efficient administration and effective use of NCUEE examinations, the provision of multiple opportunities to take entrance examinations for national and local public universities, and the enhancementof entrant selection procedures at individual universities (see chapter 2, section 1, subsection 3). In addition to the continued pursuit of improvements in these areas, individual universities need to modify their entrant selection methods to reflect both the diversification of university education and the remarkable diversification of upper secondary education in recent years.

In the past selection methods relied excessively on scholastic tests administered by universities and on "standard scores," used to measure students' chances of passing entrance examinations. These reflect neither the aims, characteristics, specialized fields, and other attributes of universities nor the abilities and aptitudes of students. These selection methods have had a serious negative impact on education at the upper secondary school level and below.

To alleviate this problem, more universities must select entrants on the basis of not only a certain level of scholastic ability but also other factors, such as creativity, motivation to learn, and extracurricular and volunteer activities at the upper secondary level. In particular, implementation of the new Course of Study for Upper Secondary Schools means that from fiscal 1997 onward students who have studied under the new curriculum will begin to take university entrance examinations. Entrant selection systems need to reflect the aims of the new Course of Study, based on its new concept of scholastic abilityoincluding the willingness to learn independently and the ability to think and judge for oneself and express oneself oand evaluate accurately the characteristics that these aims emphasize.

Individual universities also need to clarify their educational philosophies and goals. On that basis, they also need to clarify the abilities and aptitudes that define the types of students that they wish to attract, as well as the types of learning and other activities that their ideal students should have undertaken at the upper secondary level. The content and methodology of entrant selection systems should then be determined from the perspective of identifying such students.

The creation of individualized and diversified entrant selection systems is an important priority from the perspective of promoting the individualization and diversification of universities and the advancement and revitalization of education and research, which are the basic aims of university reform.


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