A university president should perhaps keep quiet about problems his institution faces. But it would be a lie to say that no problems exist. Indeed, presidents of private-sector institutions of higher education in Japan face a range of challenging issues.

Some issues relate to the size of an institution. Private institutions in Japan range in size from 1,000 to 100,000 students. A president of a large university, having to preside over campus-wide faculty meetings, may long for a family atmosphere similar to faculty meetings at a small college. Some private colleges have but a single school or faculty. A president of such a college may feel at a disadvantage in the competition to attract students. A president of an engineering college has to work hard to keep up with ever-changing technologies, while one at a humanities college can sit back and relax.

Some private institutions enjoy a long history and elite status much like that of the national universities. Some private schools have national reputations, while others are known only in their own region. And finally, there are the many so-called "train station box lunch" colleges that lack academic legitimacy. These last two types of institutions have a much harder job in reaching and recruiting students.

The Quality/Quantity Dichotomy
Many institutions today are struggling with the dichotomy involving quality or quantity. Quality refers to admitting students who have the scholastic aptitude, study habits, and clear academic and career goals that qualify them for higher education. For such students, college or university should be an opportunity for academic higher learning and a chance to open up one's career possibilities. But it certainly should not be a time for R & R, a reward for having studied hard from the 4th to the 12th grade and having passed the difficult entrance exam. It is a president's responsibility to provide a quality academic environment (faculty, building, and equipment) for qualified students.

Quantity refers to enrolling sufficient numbers of tuition-paying students to finance the operation of an institution--a vital part of running a private school in Japan, where almost all private institutions depend largely, and often solely, on tuition. If quality is our ideal, quantity is the only means for us to attain that goal.

Boom and Bust
The economic boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s created a sense of omnipotence--that everything was possible with Japan's wealth. The Bubble Economy, an increase in the cohort of 18-year-olds, and the belief in equal access to educational attainment led to an increase in the number of college-bound young people. Rising demand aggravated the "hard-in and easy-out" style of Japanese universities. Children were now required to study even harder to get into the university than to graduate.

To alleviate this so-called "exam hell," the Japanese government permitted institutions with sufficient resources to increase freshmen admissions until the year 2000. (In Japan, private--as well as public--institutions must follow government guidelines for freshmen admissions quotas.) Many private institutions increased admissions by 10 to 30 percent. This was also meant to fortify colleges financially.

The Bubble Economy has now burst, and the number of 18-year-olds has dropped from a peak of 2.03 million to 1.6 million. Further declines are anticipated. If institutions continue to admit more students, it is predicted that eventually all high school graduates who apply for college will be admitted. At present, there are 990,000 18-year-olds seeking admission to a college or university; of these 790,000 will be admitted. But by 2003, the number of student applicants will be down to 750,000. As the 18-year-old age cohort shrinks, so too does the number of qualified students. Theoretically, this could mean that students who would not have qualified for college admission in 1990 would be admitted as full-time students in 2003.

Many private institutions will have to welcome even those who are not qualified academically in order to fill their classrooms (or, put more bluntly, to raise enough income to keep the institution going). A failure on the part of the universities to address the decrease in the number of students could lead to a lowering of academic requirements for high school graduation. A lessening of the competition for college entrance could generate an attitude of "Why study hard if everyone is assured of a college seat?"

Ideally, a college president should maintain academic standards while securing the necessary revenues. At a time of declining population, income is proportional to an increase in student enrollment. But, to admit greater numbers of underqualified or less-well-prepared students necessitates offering remedial classes, which in turn may attract even greater numbers of less-qualified students. It is ironic that a policy intended to raise the revenues necessary to finance academic quality started a vicious cycle leading to an increase in the number of poorly prepared students.

It is a central issue today that changes introduced to strengthen private institutions are now undermining those very institutions. Presidents of private-sector institutions of higher education in Japan are now struggling to solve these and other problems.