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Japan Universities
In 1991 more than 2.1 million students were enrolled in
Japan's
507 universities. At the top of the higher education
structure,
these institutions provide four-year training leading to a
bachelor's degree, and some offer six-year programs
leading to a
professional degree. There are two types of public
four-year
colleges: the ninety-six national universities (including
the
University of the Air) and the thirty-nine local public
universities, founded by prefectures and municipalities.
The 372
remaining four-year colleges in 1991 were private (see
table 7,
Appendix).
The overwhelming majority of college students attend
full-time
day programs. In 1990 the most popular courses, enrolling
almost 40
percent of all undergraduate students, were in the social
sciences,
including business, law, and accounting. Other popular
subjects
were engineering (19 percent), the humanities (15
percent), and
education (7 percent).
The average costs (tuition, fees, and living expenses)
for a
year of higher education in 1986 were ¥1.4 million
(US$10,000), of
which parents paid a little less than 80 percent, or about
20
percent of the average family's income in 1986. To help
defray
expenses, students frequently work part-time or borrow
money
through the government-supported Japan Scholarship
Association.
Assistance also is offered by local governments, nonprofit
corporations, and other institutions.
In 1991 women accounted for about 27 percent of all
university
undergraduates, and their numbers were slowly increasing.
Women's
choices of majors and programs of study still tend to
follow
traditional patterns, with more than two-thirds of all
women enroll
in education, social sciences, or humanities courses. Only
15
percent studied scientific and technical subjects, and
women
represented less than 3 percent of students in
engineering, the
most popular subject for men in 1991.
Data as of January 1994
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