Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) launched a probe into entrance exams at the country’s medical universities after a Tokyo medical school admitted to rigging results to exclude female applicants.
In the first ever nationwide investigation, all 81 private and public medical schools in the country will have their admission procedures checked for possible discrimination against female applicants.
Schools will also be asked about the gender ratio of successful applicants for the past six years. If the figures provided are unreasonable, the ministry may probe further or visit the school, said a ministry official.
Additionally, the ministry will check whether admission decisions are merit-based and without knowledge of students’ names or gender.
“It would be wrong to accept or deny [a student] based on factors aside from their abilities,” a private high school vice principal told Nikkei Asian Review. He said he sends about 100 students or more to medical schools annually.
The probe followed a scandal where Tokyo Medical University admitted to unfairly lowering the scores of female applicants to limit their enrolment. They also inflated the scores of certain students to keep the admission of female students at about 30%.
According to Japan Times, the university did so in order to prevent a future shortage of doctors if women professionals resigned or take long leave after marrying or giving birth.
Education minister Yoshimasa Hayashi criticised the practice, which had reportedly started as early as 2006. Hayashi called it “extremely inappropriately and a serious matter that eroded trust in universities” at a news conference.
“I want each university to respond sincerely to the ministry’s survey,” he said, noting that other universities may have a similar practice.
The scandal was first exposed when a former government official was charged for bribery after securing his son’s enrolment at the school in return for helping the university gain government funding.
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