Advisory panel postpones decision on Kake school plan

August 11, 2017

TOKYO- A Japanese government advisory panel has postponed its decision on whether to approve a plan to establish a new veterinary medicine faculty by Kake Educational Institution, a school operator at the center of a favoritism scandal involving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, informed sources said Thursday.

The Council for University Chartering and School Juridical Person, which advises the education minister, is unlikely to make its decision at least until October, the sources said. A decision was initially planned to be made by the end of this month.

The sources said that the postponement is due to the insufficiency of education programs submitted by Kake, based in the western city of Okayama and headed by a close friend of Abe.

In March, Kake applied for permission to allow Okayama University of Science, which it runs, to open a new department of veterinary medicine in April next year. The panel started examining the application in April this year.

The council is expected to urge Kake to revise its application.

In principle, the education ministry does not allow new veterinary medicine faculties to be opened in the country in view of an excessive supply of animal doctors.

As a special deregulation measure, the government makes an exception for a school in an area where there are no universities with veterinary medicine departments.

Kake is planning to set up a new veterinary medicine faculty in Imabari in the western prefecture of Ehime that was designated as an area for the deregulation.

If established, it will be the first veterinary medicine department to be opened in Japan since 1966. Jiji Press