HYOGO, Jul 30 (News On Japan) –
Mukogawa Women’s University in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, has introduced it can change into coeducational beginning within the 2027 tutorial yr. The transfer highlights a rising crossroads for Japan’s girls’s universities.
With almost 10,000 college students throughout 13 schools, Mukogawa is among the largest girls’s universities in Japan. On July twenty ninth, the college held a press convention to verify the shift to coeducation and introduced that it’s going to change its identify to Mukogawa University, dropping the phrase “Women’s” from its official title.
Some college students voiced opposition to the change.
A second-year scholar stated, “I was shocked. I’m against it.”
A fourth-year scholar added, “I chose a women’s university because it felt easier to be myself without worrying about how I act around boys. This feels suffocating.”
Despite these considerations, Mukogawa Women’s University determined to maneuver ahead with coeducation. At the press convention, Ryo Okawara, chair of the Mukogawa Gakuin board, defined the rationale behind the choice.
“With the accelerating decline in the birthrate, universities are entering an era of intense competition,” stated Okawara. “There’s a clear trend among high school students of moving away from women’s universities. We can no longer ignore the harsh outlook for institutions that serve only female students.”
According to the college, the variety of candidates by means of the overall entrance examination has halved in comparison with fiscal 2020. It warns that with out adjustments, it might not be capable of keep its present scale in 4 to 6 years.
Some girls’s universities which have already change into coeducational report improved enrollment charges, making coeducation a key technique for monetary sustainability.
While extra girls’s universities are shifting on this route, others are selecting to reaffirm their id. At Kyoto Women’s University, one among Kansai’s most prestigious girls’s establishments, the principle entrance prominently shows a “Women’s University Declaration,” which is posted all through campus.
President Eiko Takeyasu stated, “I’ve heard many concerns from current students who are unsure about their future. I felt we had to first ease their anxiety and restore calm.”
The college believes that offering an setting for ladies to develop freely is crucial in Japanese society.
A 3rd-year scholar commented, “Having boys around might make you more self-conscious or cause you to hold back.”
A primary-year scholar stated, “Compared to when I was in a coed high school, I can truly be myself every day here. I feel free to express my individuality.”
Takeyasu added, “In this society, women often unconsciously put on the ‘feminine’ mask. But in a women-only environment, they can shed that and discover capabilities they didn’t realize they had. It allows them to grow into who they really are.”
As extra establishments see coeducation as a lifeline, girls’s universities should now make a troublesome selection: keep custom or adapt to outlive.
Anchor Chiaki Kuroki requested why girls’s universities are declining.
Announcer Mikiyasu Watanabe offered the scenario at main girls’s universities in Kansai. Mukogawa Women’s University, which formally introduced its coeducational plan on July twenty ninth, cited a pointy drop in candidates as a key cause. After asserting the coeducation plan in June, the variety of guests to its open campus occasions elevated by 1.5 instances in comparison with the earlier yr.
Other faculties are following go well with. Kyoto Koka Women’s University will change into coeducational within the 2026 tutorial yr. Kobe Kaisei Women’s University and Kyoto Notre Dame University have already halted scholar recruitment, with Kobe Kaisei having carried out so beginning in 2024.
Asked why college students are turning away from girls’s universities, Watanabe pointed to declining birthrates and adjustments in admissions techniques. He additionally cited an knowledgeable opinion: “With the 2015 enactment of the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, more women are aiming for career-track positions. This has made them more likely to choose academically prestigious coed universities, contributing to the decline in women’s universities.”
Kuroki then requested how universities view the function of ladies’s training.
Watanabe offered two views. Mukogawa’s chair Okawara said, “To succeed in society, women need to collaborate with men. This is increasingly expected, so it’s important to foster such collaboration from the university level.”
In distinction, Kyoto Women’s University President Takeyasu stated, “Even if systems change, gender disparities persist beneath the surface. Women-only institutions help eliminate those disparities and offer a nurturing environment—something essential in Japanese education.”
Kuroki concluded, “While it’s important to provide various options, there will always be women who need a women-only learning environment. Offering a broad range of choices is key for society as a whole.”
Source: YOMIURI