Characteristics of Professional and Vocational Universities (PVU) and Professional and Vocational Junior Colleges (PVJC)

  PVU and PVJC have characteristics different from those of conventional universities in the following points.
○Contents
  PVU and PVJC are supposed to design and provide unique courses with cooperation from persons engaging in professions requiring expertise, persons conducting business relating to relevant professions, and other related parties. They are obliged to provide education in collaboration with relevant industry.
  Roughly 1/3 or more of the credit subjects must be practical work, and long-term in-company training under an appropriate instruction system should be held for 10 or more credits during two years and for 20 or more credits during four years.
○ Study Period
  There are PVU providing 4-year courses and PVJC providing 2-year or 3-year courses.
  PVU is able to introduce a two-semester system consisting of a first half and a second half in a four-year course, which offers diverse learning options such as enabling a student having completed the first half of the course to commence employment and then get promoted to the second half after a period of time, or enabling a working adult to start with the second half for the purpose of re-learning.
○ Teachers
  Practitioner teachers in their subject areas are positively employed, and approximately 40% or more of all full-time teachers should be those with practical experience. Half or more of them should also have research abilities.
○ Admission
  PVU and PVJC positively accept a diverse range of students such as high school graduates (specialized courses, general education courses), workers, transfer students, etc.
  At the time of an entrance examination, practical experience, qualifications, results of skill tests and other factors are taken into consideration and examinees' eagerness, capacities, competencies, etc. are evaluated in a multifaceted and comprehensive manner.
○ Diploma
  A graduate from PVU is granted a "bachelor's degree (professional)," and a graduate from PVJC is granted an "associate degree (professional)."
A person who has completed the first half of a course provided by PVU is granted an “associate degree (professional)”.