Two-year Graduation option for eligible high-school students

If we go by the current education system in Japan, high-school students face a long gap before entering universities, especially the overseas European and US schools where terms begin in autumn. This time-gap often works to the disadvantage of bright students and thus the education ministry has decided to introduce a system where ‘top-performing high school students’ can graduate in two years and apply to universities much earlier.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry plan to encourage graduates who can perform well internationally. This new system will also act to the advantage of domestic students who face the time-gap issue. Although both foreign and national universities allow early admissions based on previous academic records, the final high school graduation certificates take time to be procured, thus upsetting the admission procedure.

The new system will benefit high school students whose academic marks are exceptional and according to the benchmark declared by the ministry. Only they will be able to avail this option. Eligible students can enroll to universities after graduating high school in a minimum of two years. Moreover students can enroll in autumn, should they decide to stay on for the two and a half year program.

More details are expected when the expert panels and the Central Council for Education meet and formulate their proposal, which will be reported to the National Policy Unit soon.    (http://japandailypress.com)