Mukogawa Women’s University, Japan’s largest women’s university, has faced strong opposition, with more than 30,000 signatures against it as it seeks to switch to co-educational technology. On the 19th, the Sankei Shimbun reported that Mukogawa Women’s University in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, recently said, “The school will be converted to engineering from 2027. The name of the school will be changed to Mukogawa University.” As a result, opposition voices are spreading among students. Opponents of the engineering transition conducted online signatures calling for “the suspension and postponement of engineering” and gained consent from more than 30,000 people. The signature contained the message, “Respect the will of students who decide to go to school on the premise that it is a women’s university.” They are asking the school to hold briefing sessions and exchange meetings, maintain a women’s university until the first grade graduates, and disclose the contents of meetings and discussions participating in decision-making.
A student who signed on the signature site said, “I am relieved that there will be no engineering or closing of schools as it is Japan’s largest women’s university. But I can’t believe I got betrayed by this.” One student said, “I had severe male phobia in the past, so I had no choice but to go to a women’s university. Some people have reasons to go to a women’s university. “Sudden changes are also rude to examinees,” he said. The signature will run until July 17 and will be submitted to the school board on the 20th. Mukogawa Women’s University will make a final decision on its engineering transition policy at a board meeting on July 28. Mukogawa Women’s University is Japan’s largest female university with 21 departments and more than 10,000 students enrolled. The student recruitment rate is 95%, which means that there is no immediate problem with management, but as the decline in the student population in Japan, a super-aged society, continues, the school will preemptively switch to maintain its size. According to the Japanese authorities’ announcement, the age of 18-year-old population taking the university entrance examination exceeded 2 million in the 1990s, but this year it is 1.09 million. It is estimated that 430,000 people will enter universities by 2050. As a result, Japanese female universities are undergoing engineering transformation amid the decline in the school-age population. The number of four-year female universities in Japan was about 100 in the late 1990s but decreased to about 70 in the 2020s. Earlier in March, Kyoto Women’s University in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, said it would switch to engineering from the 2026 school year.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
