2020 Volume 2020 Issue 60 Pages 2-24
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is designed to enable university entrance across borders. A great deal of higher education institutions worldwide have recognized and appreciated IBDP as a university entrance qualification. Therefore, IBDP has been referred to in-previous research as the Global Standard Program (Iwasaki, 2018) in the age of globalization.
However, there is room for discussion as to whether IBDP is as highly appreciated in Japanese contexts. This is because there are only a limited number of Japanese universities that utilize IBDP for admissions although the Japanese government and the Japan Association of National Universities have announced that universities should actively use IBDP for this purpose. Why, then, is there such an unusual situation around the utilization of IBDP for admissions in Japan?
Based on the above question, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the intentions and conflicts that Japanese universities have when they introduce and implement special entrance examinations using IBDP (IB entrance examinations). This paper argues that Japanese selective universities are not actively working on the introduction or implementation of IB entrance examinations because they maintain “the logic of elite selection”(Nakamura, 1996). This emphasizes securing fairness based on traditional academic ability even when conducting IB entrance examinations, which are classified as “selection focusing on new abilities”(Nakamura, 2012).
To achieve its purpose, this paper analyzes the results of an interview survey targeting five universities that have conducted a special entrance examination only for International Baccalaureate graduates (IB graduates). Based on the results, the reasons why Japanese universities are not actively working on the IB entrance examinations are revealed to be as follows.
The surveyed universities have introduced and conducted IB entrance examinations in the hope that IB graduates would have so-called “new abilities” that are needed in the present age such as “independence” and “thinking skills”. Moreover, it is thought that the acceptance of IB graduates activates university classes at some surveyed universities. Based on these facts, IB entrance examinations are classified as “selection focusing on new abilities” with various scales in the same way as are admissions based on a recommendation (suisen-nyushi) and admissions conducted by the admission offices (AO-nyushi) in Japan.
This “selection focusing on new abilities” has been popularized among non-selective universities that were not targeted to accept IB graduates. Japanese selective universities place importance on securing fairness based on traditional academic ability that is measured through the National Center Test at admissions. This tendency is called “the logic of elite selection”.
A dilemma arises here. That is, when IB entrance examinations classified as “selection focusing on new abilities” is carried out at Japanese selective universities, it cannot be considered sufficient that IB graduates only have “new abilities”. It is thought that IB graduates should prove that they also have “traditional academic ability” equal to or better than other students who have advanced from Japanese high schools to Japanese selective universities. The reason is that “the logic of elite selection” which emphasizes fairness based on “traditional academic ability” remains at Japanese selective universities, even when “selection focusing on new abilities” is implemented. (View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)
