Kake Gakuen requests Chiba University of Science (Choshi City) to become a public school.Although it opened with city funding, the number of students has decreased since its peak in 2016: Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web

Regarding Chiba University of Science, which has a campus in Choshi City, Chiba Prefecture, the city, in response to the university’s request, has decided to establish an expert panel to decide whether to make the campus public. On October 11, the educational corporation Kake Gakuen (Okayama City), which operates the university, submitted a request to the city in the name of Chairman Kotaro Kake, requesting that the university become a public university corporation. Mayor Shinichi Koshikawa made the announcement at an extraordinary press conference.

◆Kake Gakuen was controversial during the Abe administration when it established a new veterinary school.

Chairman Kake is a former friend of the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. When a new veterinary school was established in a national strategic special zone, suspicions of lobbying by people around Mr. Abe and the Cabinet Office arose, leading to the “Kake Gakuen issue.” The request letter mentions the effect of lowering tuition fees through publicization. Yamaguchi Tokyo University of Science (Sanyo-Onoda City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) and Kochi Institute of Technology (Kami City, Kochi Prefecture), which have become public schools from private schools, are said to have secured more students than their capacity, and have proposed that this will lead to regional revitalization. There is.

Mayor Koshikawa emphasized the benefits of having a university located in the city, such as the economic effects of having students and staff living in the city, but keeping in mind the city’s difficult financial situation, he said, “There will be no financial burden on the city, and there will be no financial burden on the city. “Basically, expenditures should be covered within the scope of local allocation tax grants.”

◆7.75 billion yen subsidy to attract students, just under 70% of capacity

The panel of experts will be made up of people from universities, high schools, PTAs, and industry, and will report to Mayor Koshikawa on the pros and cons of publicization. The city says it will decide on policies after listening to citizen opinions.

Chiba University of Science opened in 2004. The city lent approximately 10 hectares of city-owned land free of charge and subsidized construction costs of 7.75 billion yen to attract the project. There is a Faculty of Crisis Management, a Faculty of Pharmacy, and a Faculty of Nursing. This year, 228 students, or 47%, enrolled, out of a total of 490 students. Including graduate students, the number of students enrolled is 1,528, which is 67% of the capacity. The number has continued to decline since peaking in 1957 in fiscal 2016. (Tatsu Horiba)