Eighty-two women were supposed to pass this year's general entrance exam for Tokyo Medical University's medical school, but the number was eventually reduced to 43 through manipulation of their scores, according to an interim report released Tuesday by a third-party commission.
Chaired by lawyer Kohei Nasu, the panel also found suspicions of discrimination against women in recommendations-based entrance exams.
Tokyo Medical University manipulated the scores of essays written at the second stage of its general entrance exam, unfairly treating female test-takers and male examinees who had graduated from high school three or more years previously. For test-takers whose backdoor admission to the university had been requested, the institution also improperly added points to their scores at the first stage of the exam.
According to the report, the investigating panel restored the original score as they had existed before tampering. Analysis of the list used in the selection process indicated that manipulation of the scores ultimately halved the number of successful female candidates.
Looking at those who took this year's and last year's general entrance exams and the National Center for University Entrance Examinations tests, the committee found a total of 223 women were over the pass line. However, only 168 were announced to have passed, while 55 were told they had failed.
The combined pass rates among those who took this year's general entrance exam or the national center test stood at 11.5 percent for men and 4.9 percent for women, based on the list of successful examinees. However, the panel found that the pass rates would have been 9.8 percent for men and 8.1 percent for women if there had been no fraudulent manipulation, meaning the disparity would have shrunk considerably.
Meanwhile, 27 students passed this year's entrance exam by recommendation --18 men and nine women.
Everyone who scored in the top 13 was admitted. Among those placed 14th or lower, however, all the men passed, as opposed to only one woman who had applied for the recommendation-based exam under a regional quota.
At a meeting of the entrance exam committee that decides who passes or fails, former President Mamoru Suzuki, 69, reportedly said, "I want to get more men this year."
The independent commission said it is "suspected that the former president's ideas distorted the decision-making process of the entrance exam committee."
Moreover, it was found that under an instruction from former Chairman of the Board of Regents Masahiko Usui, 77, the top five people on the wait list were ignored, and instead other specific examinees were notified by direct phone calls that they had passed.
According to the interim report, some members of the entrance exam committee made such comments as "women have life events like pregnancy and childbirth" and "an increase in the number of female doctors could result in a collapse in medical care."
Regarding discrimination against test-takers who graduated from high school three or more years ago, some members said these students "often have difficulty in moving to higher levels of study or taking the national examination for medical practitioners," according to the interim report.
The third-party panel said the university's practice "can never be accepted, as it seriously violates the principle of equality, equal opportunity in education and fairness in entrance exams," and called for the elimination of sexism and the unfair treatment of test-takers who graduated high school in past academic years.
This report also urged the university to introduce compensatory measures for examinees who would have passed if their scores had not been manipulated, such as by admitting them next year.
Overseas grads also suffered
Tokyo Medical University also was unfair in its treatment of examinees who had graduated from overseas schools and those who passed a test for a high school equivalency certificate, according to the interim report.
For those who took this year's general entrance exam or the national center exam, a coefficient of 0.8 was first applied to the scores of the second-round essay test (100 points maximum) to uniformly lower all candidates' scores. Then 10 points were added to the score of examinees who were scheduled to graduate from high school this year, and to the score of male test-takers who had graduated from high school within the past two years.
An additional five points were given to male test-takers who had graduated from high school three years ago. No points were added for men who had graduated from high school four years ago or more, or for female examinees.
These manipulations were aimed to reduce the number of successful female test-takers and those who had graduated from high school three years ago or more.
According to the report, additional points were also not given to people who had passed a test for a high school equivalency certificate, as well as test-takers who had graduated from overseas, vocational and other schools.
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