Kyoto University plans to start eliminating gender barriers by setting admission quotas for female students in its science and engineering faculties, beginning with spring enrollment in the 2026 academic year.
It said March 21 that a total of 39 female students will be admitted, adding that candidates will be assessed through comprehensive screening or recommendations from senior high schools.
“The notion that women are not suited for science and engineering is an illusion,” the university’s president, Nagahiro Minato, told a news conference.
Slots will be allocated for 15 female students in the science faculty and 24 in the engineering faculty. The quota for general selection will be reduced accordingly.
Females currently account for only 7.9 percent of the total number of students in the faculty of science and 10.1 percent in the faculty of engineering.
The preferential mechanism is expected to raise the female ratio to around 15 percent within a few years of the special quota’s introduction, officials said.
Minato pledged to eliminate gender disparities to create an ideal environment for deeper learning.
“Our approach may be regarded as one of affirmative action by giving preferential treatment to certain race groups and gender in education and employment,” he said. “But there must be a system where women can actively take on challenges.”
Like the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University is regarded as one of Japan’s top educational institutions.
Public colleges across the nation are also moving to increase the number of female students in their departments of science and engineering through dedicated quotas. Fourteen schools, including the Tokyo Institute of Technology, accepted female students under a quota system this spring.
by Wild_Ebb5097
