Going broke universities – Disappearing universities explained

The Going broke universities – Disappearing universities (危ない大学・消える大学 Abunai Daigaku Kieru Daigaku) is a ranking book about Japanese Universities by Japanese journalist, published annually since 1993.

Although there are several university rankings in Japan, most of them rank universities by their entrance difficulties often called "Hensachi" or by alumni's successes. Especially, the Hensachi Rankings have been most commonly used for university ranking.[1] From this view point, GBUDU is a typical ranking book in Japan.

The GBUDU ranks Japanese Universities in terms of the entrance difficulty and selectivity. The author's main argument is that more selective universities have better quality, and generally guarantee students better future careers. Thus people should avoid least selective universities, and try to enter more selective ones as much as they can.[2] [3] [4]

Methodology

The GBUDU rankings are made by the average scores of Hensachi estimated by Japanese major prep school Yoyogi seminar.[2] Consequently, it can be regarded as a summary of the selectivity of Japanese universities.[5] [6] [7]

He prepared the following 10 scales to measure universities' entrance difficulties.

SAMost selective15
A1Very selective (Upper 1st class)46
A2Very selective (Lower 1st class)149
BSelective (Almost equivalent to 1st class)22
CUpper middle class
DMiddle class
ELower middle class / He defined it as the minimum level of universities that student should enter
FLower class
GLower class
NLeast selective / The candidate universities for "Going broke universities" or "Disappearing universities"
Total[8] 778

2010 rankings

The following data is the 2010 ranking table only in Rank SA (1st), Rank A1 (2nd), Rank A2 (3rd) and Rank B (4th) even though there are additionally Rank C, Rank D, Rank E, Rank F, Rank G, Rank N, Rank "on hold" and others (from the higher to the lower).[9] [10]

Overall Rank 2010Region
National Universities (Alphabetical order)Public Universities (Alphabetical order)Private Universities (Alphabetical order)
SAHokkaidoHokkaido University
TohokuTohoku University
KantoHitotsubashi University / Ochanomizu University / Tokyo Institute of Technology / Tokyo University of Foreign Studies / University of TokyoInternational Christian University / Keio University / Sophia University / Waseda University
ChubuNagoya University
KansaiKyoto University / Osaka University
Chugoku
Shikoku
KyushuKyushu University
A1Hokkaido
TohokuAkita International University
KantoChiba University / Gunma University / Saitama University / Tokyo Gakugei University / Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology / University of Tsukuba / Yokohama National UniversityGunma Prefectural Women's University / Kanagawa University of Human Services / Saitama Prefectural University / Takasaki City University of Economics / Tokyo Metropolitan University / Yokohama City UniversityAoyama Gakuin University / Hosei University / Chuo University / Gakushuin University / Meiji University / Rikkyo University / Tokyo University of Science / Tsuda College
ChubuAichi University of Education / Gifu University / Kanazawa University / Nagoya Institute of Technology / Shinshu UniversityAichi Prefectural University / Nagoya City University / Tsuru University
KansaiKobe University / Kyoto University of Education / Nara Women's University / Osaka Kyoiku University / Shiga UniversityKyoto Prefectural University / Nara Prefectural University / Osaka City University / Osaka Prefecture UniversityDoshisha University / Kwansei Gakuin University / Ritsumeikan University
ChugokuHiroshima University
ShikokuKagawa University
KyushuKumamoto University / Miyazaki University / Nagasaki University
A2HokkaidoAll of the other National UniversitiesAll of the other Public Universities
TohokuAll of the other National UniversitiesAll of the other Public Universities
KantoAll of the other National UniversitiesAll of the other Public UniversitiesGakushuin Women's College / Japan Women's University / Meiji Gakuin University / Seijo University / St. Luke's College of Nursing / Tokyo Woman's Christian University / University of the Sacred Heart
ChubuAll of the other National UniversitiesAll of the other Public UniversitiesNanzan University
KansaiAll of the other National UniversitiesAll of the other Public UniversitiesDoshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts / Kansai University / Kyoto University of Foreign Studies / Kyoto Women's University
ChugokuAll of the other National UniversitiesAll of the other Public UniversitiesNotre Dame Seishin University
ShikokuAll of the other National UniversitiesAll of the other Public Universities
KyushuAll of the other National UniversitiesAll of the other Public UniversitiesSeinan Gakuin University
BHokkaido
Tohoku
KantoDokkyo University / Ferris University / Japanese Red Cross College of Nursing / Kagawa Nutrition University / Kanda University of International Studies / Kokugakuin University / Komazawa University / Mukogawa Women's University / Musashino University / Musashi University / Seikei University / Seisen University / Shibaura Institute of Technology / Shirayuri Women's University / Soka University / Tokyo University of Agriculture
Chubu
KansaiBukkyo University / Kansai Gaidai University / Kobe College / Konan University / Ryukoku University
ChugokuThe Japanese Red Cross Hiroshima College of Nursing
Shikoku
Kyushu

External links

Notes and References

  1. 増田 晶文 "大学は学生に何ができるか" 2003
  2. Book: 危ない大学・消える大学 2012年版 . 2011 . YELL books . . Japanese.
  3. However, it is not always true that more selective universities are better for job hunting (e.g. universities in big cities such as Greater Tokyo and Greater Osaka are more competitive in Japanese job market). In fact, Shimano also regularly publishes another ranking book from this perspective (see the reference below).
  4. Book: 就職でトクする大学・損する大学ランキング 2012年版 . 2011 . YELL books . . Japanese.
  5. Usually prep schools provide rankings in each subject, but rarely do the whole university rankings. From this point of view, GBUDU is one of few publications which provide this data.
  6. However this ranking system doesn't include several small specialist universities. For example, all of the independent medical schools are not considered, although their entrance difficulties are highly competitive. Therefore, this ranking system only includes major universities.
  7. Normally, National/Public Universities and Private Universities use different sort of exams, so it's not easily comparable. Hensachi scores have a tendency to be higher with Private Universities. Shimano applies his own measurement to fix this tendency to make it more realistic.
  8. According to MEXT, there are 86 national universities, 95 public universities, and 597 private universities in 2010.http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/toukei/chousa01/kihon/kekka/k_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2010/08/05/1296403_3.pdf In addition, there are also 26 public 2 year colleges and 369 private 2 year colleges, thus we often also count this number in the total number of universities (i.e. 1173 universities). However this ranking book doesn't contain 2 year colleges.
  9. https://tanuki-no-suji.at.webry.info/201909/article_1.html Going broke universities-Disappearing universities|2020 version
  10. Book: 危ない大学・消える大学 2010年版 . 2009 . YELL books . . Japanese.