Applicants to the Kankandoritsu group’s general admissions programs continue to rise, while the number of successful applicants is falling. In Kansai, the impact of open-recruitment recommendation admissions and the established practice of holding entrance exams within the calendar year are accelerating the reduction in admissions at highly selective private universities. Kwansei Gakuin University, in particular, saw a sharp decline in successful applicants despite an increase in applicants.
Tighter enrollment-cap management over the treatment of subsidies for private universities has prompted a broader effort to avoid enrolling more students than permitted. The trend is similar in both the Kanto and Kansai regions, and the reasons for limiting admissions at private universities are common to both, but the movements of applicants differ by region. Under the Kankandoritsu group’s general admissions programs, cumulative applicants increased from approximately 185,000 to 204,000, while successful applicants declined from approximately 58,000 to 53,000. The competition ratio rose from 3.2x to 3.9x, leaving approximately one-third of applicants unsuccessful.
In Kansai, it is customary for students to first take open-recruitment recommendation entrance exams held before the end of the year to secure a fallback option, and then sit general entrance exams after the New Year. As a result, information about reduced admissions at highly selective private universities is more readily conveyed in two stages, before and after the New Year, creating entrance-exam trends specific to the region.