Do women go to university when it is established in a region where they live?: Case of massive reforms of two-year colleges in Japan

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03778
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Public finance/Public economy
• Research Institution: Hosei University
• Principal Investigator: Sakai Tadashi 法政大学, 比較経済研究所, 教授 (00425761)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 三好 向洋 愛知学院大学, 経済学部, 講師 (10636244) ; 荒木 宏子 慶應義塾大学, 経済学部(三田), 訪問研究員 (30635131)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 短期大学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In Japan, the number of two-year colleges, most of which are women's colleges, has dropped by over 40% since the mid-1990s. Many of the abolished colleges have been reformed into four-year colleges. In this study, we considered the implication of this massive change in supply of higher education on women's decision of going to college. Our results of the analysis based on Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers indicate that the reforms of local two-year colleges into four-year colleges led to a decrease in the probability of women's enrollments in two-year colleges but did not cause a significant increase in the probability of women's enrollments in four-year colleges. This implies that, in association with the reform, some of female high-school students gave up receiving higher education in a region where they were living.

Free Research Field

労働経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

経営難に陥った短大がその打開策として四大化することが多かったことが指摘される一方で、短大が四大化しても必ずしも学生募集に成功するわけではないことは逸話的には言われていた。地域における短大の入学定員数の減少は短大入学確率に負の影響を与える一方で、地域の四大の入学定員数の増加は大学入学確率に影響していないという本分析の結果は、地域のニーズに応じた高等教育機会の提供の重要性を示唆する。