(9)Entrance Examinations

The system for selecting successful applicants for admission to a school in Japan is unique to this country and of great significance when attempting to understand the educational problems of the universities. While entrance examinations exist in the lower levels of education as well, the problems they create are most acute at the university level.

With the inauguration of the new university system, the Ministry of Education recommended that admissions should be based on combined results of scholastic examinations, physical examinations, and upper secondary school records. In line with this goal, the Ministry annually evaluates the entrance examination papers used by each university for the purpose of improving the quality of the exams. Nevertheless, in actual practice a disproportionate emphasis has been placed on scholastic examinations 'and the adverse effects of this are felt throughout the entire educational system. A proposal to research, draft, and administer a standardized test which could provide objective and reliable results on which to base admissions decisions was put forth by 1963 by the Central Council for Education. The Council also called for the creation of a special institute to carryout these tasks. Thus in 1963 the Educational Test Research Institute was established as a private foundation and immediately began work on the research and development of such a standardized test. The Ministry of Education enthusiastically endorsed this project and provided financial and technical assistance. In 1967 the Ministry proposed to the universities the using in a trial run of the Institute's scholastic aptitude and scholastic achievement tests as a base to determine admissions for the 1967 academic year. Although the Institute enjoyed the support of the various boards of education, its task was viewed with prejudice and suspicion from the outset by the universities. Without the cooperation of the universities the Institute could make little progress and work on the development of a standardized test was halted after the 1968 fiscal year.

Throughout this period, a board within the Ministry of Education which dealt with reforms of the entrance examination system put forward many proposals on ways to improve and more effectively utilize the academic records of students that were maintained by the upper secondary schools. The Ministry made a further attempt to reform the admissions selection process by encouraging the universities to implement the board's recommendations, but again met with no success. At the end of 1971 the board submitted a report on the long-range prospects for reform which strongly urged the adoption of an admissions policy based on judgments from a combination of sources, as well as on a standardized test of scholastic abilities.

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