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* The College System in Japan * Education in National Colleges of Technology * Further Education after Graduation
* The College System in Japan
With this background, the present
five-year technical college system was started in l962 for the
purpose of training young students as technical experts under
a new conception - the 6-3-5 school system.
Unlike other institutions of higher
education - universities and junior colleges, technical colleges
admit graduates straight from junior high schools. The entrance
examinations of the national colleges, whose subjects and problems
are common throughout the country, are carried out on the same
day in February, and students are admitted on the basis of the
results of written examinations and achievement reports from junior
high schools. Also almost every technical college has adopted
a system that allows some percentage of entrance by recommendation.
At present there are 62 technical
colleges on the five-year system - 54 national, 5 public, and
3 private. They are mostly colleges of technology, but there are
several colleges of maritime technology and a few radio technical
colleges, etc. With regard specifically to colleges of technology
there is one in almost every prefecture.
In addition, in order to adapt to
the remarkable change of the industrial structure and also to
meet students' wishes to study still higher technology, advanced
engineering faculties (16 as of 1996) have been established in
several technical colleges since 1992. ** Education in National Colleges of Technology
One characteristic of these technological
colleges is the continuous five-year education system, which makes
it possible to carry on both a general and specialized education
interrelatedly and successively from the high school to the university
level. The graduates from technical colleges are given an associate's
degree, and the students who have finished an advanced engineering
course are granted a bachelor's degree on certain required conditions.
Another characteristic is that with
the goal set as the acquisition of practical techniques as well
as underlying theories, special importance is attached to both
experiments and practical exercises. In order to cope with an
"information society", all students are required to
take credits in information processing.
A third characteristic is the emphasis
on small group education. In the final year of their college life,
students are divided into small groups of about four members and
are required to make a graduation thesis presentation under their
professors' direction.
The technical college also aims at
forming and cultivating the character of its students as social
members by leading a fruitful college life in an important period
of their lives without being mentally and physically hindered
by the university entrance examinations.
*** Further Education after Graduation
More than half of the students from
the colleges of technology find employment when they graduate,
but those who wish to study further can apply for admission to
a two-year advanced engineering course of the colleges or to the
third year of a related technology department of a four-year university.
Besides, there are two national universities
of technology whose main purpose is to accept graduates from technical
colleges. Half of the students admitted annually into these universities
are graduates from technical colleges who are recommended by their
presidents.
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