Transition from High School to University and University Location Policy: Case Study in Chiba Prefecture

Abstract

According to previous work, capacity of university entrants has a significant influence on university-going behavior. In Chiba prefecture the university location policy to increase the number of students going on to universities was implemented in the latter half of 1980s. However in fact, the increase of universities has only small influence on the expansion of students going to universities. In order to clarify this reason, this paper examines the relationship among location of high schools, academic ability of high school students, location of universities, their field of study and admission difficulty. As a result, capacity of university entrants has impact on high school students of rural areas irrespective of academic ability, but it has limited impact on high school students of urban areas with low test scores.