Juntendo and Kitasato follow Tokyo Medical University, which was outed for deliberately altering exam scores earlier this year
Juntendo University and Kitasato University, both in Tokyo, said this week that they had set a lower pass mark for men than for women to ensure a “sufficient” number of male graduates entered the medical profession.
“Women mature faster mentally than men, and their communication ability is also higher by the time they take the university exam,” Hiroyuki Daida, dean of Juntendo’s medical school, told reporters, according to the Asahi newspaper. “In some ways, this was a measure to help male applicants.”
It also said that its dormitory for women was unable to accommodate a higher number of students. A third-party committee said the university’s explanation was unacceptable.
Kitasato university admitted on its website that it had also prioritised male candidates.
Revelations this summer that Tokyo Medical University had deliberately altered entrance exam scores for more than a decade caused an outcry in Japan and fuelled suspicions that other institutions operated a similarly discriminatory admissions policy.
The Tokyo medical school rigged the scores of a large number of women, arguing that female doctors tend to quit the profession when they start families, creating staff shortages at already overstretched clinics and hospitals.
