Kindai in the News

The number of applicants for Kinki University's general entrance exam (13 non-junior college departments, including applicants using the National Center Test for University Admissions) has been confirmed as their highest ever at 113,704, an increase of 7,814 applicants since last year. Kinki University has now held the record for largest number of applicants in Japan for two consecutive years. Furthermore, the total number of applicants has exceeded last year's number by 15,309 to stand at 155,778, thus becoming the new highest application total in the history of this university.

Yasuda Kenji from University Press Ltd. commented: "This is due to increased networking these days, which has enabled the research results of the 'Kindai Tuna' and Kinki University's other pioneering projects to reach more people. It is also thanks to their progressive efforts to facilitate online applications."

At Kinki University we have continued for many years to carry out reforms in the areas of education and research, and this has clearly been appreciated by the increasing number of pupils who have applied to take our entrance exams. In addition to this, we believe that the following 3 factors have played a key role.

Increased national media coverage of our research results has caused a rise in applicants from areas outside the Kinki region
Thanks to the national media coverage of our 'Kindai Tuna' (the world's first completely cultivated Pacific Bluefin tuna) among other research successes, we've become more well-known in areas outside of the Kinki region which previously lay beyond our reach. As a result, the number of non-Kinki region applicants has risen by 4,422 people since last year. This represents an increase of around 10,000 people in the past 5 years.

A revival of the social science departments due to economic recovery
In recent years across the country, university applicants have tended to cluster around the sciences. This year, however, that trend has noticeably weakened, with a sizeable 116.8% increase since last year of applicants for the 3 main fields of social science (Law, Economics and Applied Sociology).

A consistently high number of female applicants, and an increase in applicants from different educational backgrounds
The number of female applicants this year was our highest ever at 31,262, crossing the 30,000 mark for the first time in this university's history. Female applicants, risen by around 10,000 since 2011, appreciate that we have focused our efforts in recent years on providing and maintaining high quality campus facilities. Moreover, the number of applicants from high schools with a large proportion of students who proceed onto further education has increased even further, thus broadening the variation among our applicants.

Reference Data
The following figures represent general entrance exam applicants, including those using the National Center Test for University Admissions.

Applicant numbers by region
Applicants from the Tohoku and Kanto regions increased greatly by 179.4% and 149.4% respectively. As a result, the number of applicants from eastern Japan alone increased by 2,321 people.

There has been an increase of around 10,000 general applicants since 2011. Applicant numbers have risen for 3 consecutive years since 2013.

Applicant numbers by Faculty

The number of applicants for all of the humanities subjects, excluding the Faculty of Business Administration, has exceeded last year's figures.

There were fewer applicants for the Pharmacy, Agriculture, Medicine and Biology-Oriented Science and Technology Faculties, but the sciences as a whole drew more applicants than last year.

Female applicants during the past 5 years

Female applicants numbered above 30,000 for the first time in this university's history. Compared to the figures from 2011 (21,625 female applicants), this represents an increase of around 10,000.