Our experience of crises in the recent university entrance examinations

Pandemics, natural disasters, stabbing, cheating and other unforeseen risks

Abstract

This study aimed to review the policies and procedures employed in response to various crises that faced the recent university entrance examinations in Japan: COVID-19, the eruption of a submarine volcano in the southern Pacific Ocean, a stabbing outside the University of Tokyo, and cheating with technology. Such incidents revealed our unconscious assumptions and problems with the national university admissions system. We provided the basic principles and guidelines of crisis responses and obtained the implications with the aim to establish university admissions systems that are resilient in the face of unforeseen risks.