Enrollment limits imposed on Tokyo universities for FY 2018

September 29, 2017

TOKYO- Japan's education ministry published Friday special rules aimed at limiting student enrollment at private universities in central Tokyo, with a view to correcting the excessive concentration of young people in the Japanese capital.

According to the rules, announced in the government's official gazette, private universities in Tokyo's densely populated 23 wards will not be allowed to increase their enrollment limits for the year from next April.

Also, no new four-year universities or two-year colleges will be allowed to open in the area in the year from April 2019.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike blasted the special rules the same day, describing them as "totally unacceptable."

The central government "should work to re-create Japan in a way that enables both Tokyo and the rest of the nation to prosper," Koike said.

The ministry added the special rules to government regulations on the establishment of universities, instead of revising the regulations as planned in August.

The ministry dropped a plan to ban an increase in enrollment limits and the opening of new faculties and departments in Tokyo's 23 wards for the year from April 2019.

The government plans to consider legislation to restrict student enrollment in the 23 wards and devise a detailed framework by the end of the year.

On the enrollment limits for the year from April 2019, the ministry plans to draw up special rules in line with a final report to be complied by a government-appointed panel of experts in December and other factors, officials said.

The just-announced special rules include an exception that allows private universities in central Tokyo to increase their admission capacities for the coming year if decisions to do so had been made by their boards of directors or similar panels by the end of last June and related facilities and equipment, including school buildings, are ready. Jiji Press