Abstract
In Japan, higher education institutions such as university are increasingly mindful of the need to support students with disabilities including developmental disorders. However, few previous studies have focused on support for such students in Japan’s professional training colleges (specialized training colleges offering post-secondary courses). In the present study, a questionnaire survey was administered to 280 professional training colleges to obtain data about overall support for students with disabilities, and about the enrollment of and support for students with higher levels of traits associated with developmental disorders in each college. The results revealed that many of the professional training colleges, in contrast with universities, have neither provided dedicated divisions, bodies, or specialized personnel to deal with the issue of supporting students with disabilities, nor formulated response guidelines, basic policies and regulations. It was further revealed that the activities and initiatives carried out in professional training colleges for students with disabilities were inadequate compared to universities. Around 80% of the professional training colleges reported that they have enrolled students who, regardless of whether they have an official medical diagnosis, display higher levels of traits associated with some kind of developmental disorders. However, some of these colleges provided no adequate support to assist such students in various aspects of their daily life. Thus, support for students with higher levels of traits associated with developmental disorders remains inadequate in professional training colleges in Japan; more needs to be done to improve the level of appropriate support.
