Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Universities in Modern Japan: A Historical Outline
- Chapter 2 From Showa to Heisei: The Formation of Japan’s Contemporary Higher Education System
- Chapter 3 The Heisei Period: Plus Ça Change?
- Chapter 4 National Universities: Autonomy in Their Governance; Ideology and Practice
- Chapter 5 Public Universities: Prefectural, Local Higher Education
- Chapter 6 Private Universities: Diverse and Adaptable
- Chapter 7 Foreign Universities in Japan: Opportunities Taken and Missed
- Chapter 8 The Financing of Higher Education in Japan
- Chapter 9 Undergraduate Admissions: Shifting Trends
- Chapter 10 The Hensachi: Its Dominant Role in University Rankings
- Chapter 11 Self-Assessment: How Japanese University Students Assess Their Learning Outcomes
- Chapter 12 Policies for Hosting International Students: Issues for the Post-300,000 International Students Plan Era
- Chapter 13 Regional Cooperation in East Asia: Shifting Reality
- Chapter 14 International Students: Inbound Mobility at “Elite” and “Mass” Universities
- Chapter 15 Academic Support and Advising: Historical and Contemporary Issues
- Chapter 16 Women’s Universities in Japan: Life Choices
- Chapter 17 Junior Female Academics: Experiences and Challenges
- Chapter 18 Women of Color Leading in Japanese Higher Education
- Chapter 19 International Faculty: Increasing Mobility
- Chapter 20 Research Universities: Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy
- Chapter 21 Liberal Arts Education: The Japanese Way
- Chapter 22 The English Language in Japan: A Historical Overview 1809–2020
- Chapter 23 Languages Other Than English: Mysterious Eclipse
- Chapter 24 Critical English Curriculum Enactment: A Policy Planning Perspective
- Chapter 25 The Dawn of Reiwa: Waves, Revolutions and an “A.I. Society”
- Appendix 1 Chronology of Japan
- Appendix 2 Japanese National Universities, by Prefecture
- Appendix 3 Japanese Public Universities, by Region
- Glossary
- Index
Chapter 10 - The Hensachi: Its Dominant Role in University Rankings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2023
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Universities in Modern Japan: A Historical Outline
- Chapter 2 From Showa to Heisei: The Formation of Japan’s Contemporary Higher Education System
- Chapter 3 The Heisei Period: Plus Ça Change?
- Chapter 4 National Universities: Autonomy in Their Governance; Ideology and Practice
- Chapter 5 Public Universities: Prefectural, Local Higher Education
- Chapter 6 Private Universities: Diverse and Adaptable
- Chapter 7 Foreign Universities in Japan: Opportunities Taken and Missed
- Chapter 8 The Financing of Higher Education in Japan
- Chapter 9 Undergraduate Admissions: Shifting Trends
- Chapter 10 The Hensachi: Its Dominant Role in University Rankings
- Chapter 11 Self-Assessment: How Japanese University Students Assess Their Learning Outcomes
- Chapter 12 Policies for Hosting International Students: Issues for the Post-300,000 International Students Plan Era
- Chapter 13 Regional Cooperation in East Asia: Shifting Reality
- Chapter 14 International Students: Inbound Mobility at “Elite” and “Mass” Universities
- Chapter 15 Academic Support and Advising: Historical and Contemporary Issues
- Chapter 16 Women’s Universities in Japan: Life Choices
- Chapter 17 Junior Female Academics: Experiences and Challenges
- Chapter 18 Women of Color Leading in Japanese Higher Education
- Chapter 19 International Faculty: Increasing Mobility
- Chapter 20 Research Universities: Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy
- Chapter 21 Liberal Arts Education: The Japanese Way
- Chapter 22 The English Language in Japan: A Historical Overview 1809–2020
- Chapter 23 Languages Other Than English: Mysterious Eclipse
- Chapter 24 Critical English Curriculum Enactment: A Policy Planning Perspective
- Chapter 25 The Dawn of Reiwa: Waves, Revolutions and an “A.I. Society”
- Appendix 1 Chronology of Japan
- Appendix 2 Japanese National Universities, by Prefecture
- Appendix 3 Japanese Public Universities, by Region
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
This chapter will look at how Japanese universities are ranked domestically. The key measure of internal rankings is the hensachi system, which first appeared in the 1960s as a de facto measure for scholastic achievement. From the mid-1970s onwards, hensachi increasingly came to be seen as the source of many educational “evils” in Japan, but predictions of its demise have proven to be premature—despite attempts to set up alternative domestic ranking systems such as by graduation and employment rates.
Introduction
There has been a huge market in Japan for many years which has played on showing students how they can improve what is known in Japan as their “hensachi” scores. Okamoto Masayoshi has suggested that greater control over one’s respiratory rhythm has a positive benefit on hensachi scores; Otani Masaru, a professor at Tokyo University, has set out how changes in dietary habits and the intake of appropriate nutrients, such as amino acids and vitamins, contribute to improved hensachi scores; Miyaguchi Kimitoshi’s “Miyaguchi method of memorization” supposedly can improve a student’s hensachi scores to such an extent that they can get into Tokyo University, the most competitive of all universities in Japan.
So, what exactly is hensachi and how and why has it become such an important concept in Japan’s higher education? In Japanese-English dictionaries it is often defined somewhat opaquely as a “deviation value,” and is essentially a “standardized rank score” which indicates a prospective university applicant’s position relative to her/his peers. An individual student’s hensachi is determined through mock entrance exams conducted by major supplementary education providers such as juku and yobikō. These providers publish the overall hensachi of students admitted to different universities and departments each year, so that a system originally intended to help applicants make decisions about where to apply based on their likelihood of success (by comparing their own hensachi with the previous year’s results) also generates a simple and transparent ranking of departments and universities based on their selectivity.
Since hensachi is not an officially condoned system but a mechanism developed by supplementary education schools to help students and parents calculate to which institution they should apply, there is some variation in the figures and calculations used.
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- Handbook of Higher Education in Japan , pp. 133 - 142Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2021