Students’ Expectations of Higher Education and their University Evaluation Criteria

Abstract

　 In recent years, Japan’s university entrance examination process has become less competitive. As a result, the attractiveness of universities and the criteria students use to evaluate them have also changed. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate three of these change areas.

　 The first area of change concerns the purposes underlying why high school students go on to study at universities. Broadly speaking, shifts in orientation over the past ten years have resulted in a strengthening of interest in practical forms of education, and a weakening of interest in liberal arts study.

　 Secondly, the orientation of higher education students following matriculation has also changed somewhat from years past. While this change has been toward a greater interest in practical education － interest in occupational credentials, for example, have decreased of late － and freedom of choice, an interest in the liberal arts now appears to be on the rise.

　 Finally, student evaluations indicate that they appear to be increasingly interested in both classes that employ innovative and attractive pedagogical formats rather than more traditional forms of study, and physical environments that are more aesthetically pleasing than traditional campuses.