Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/65045

JaLCDOI : 10.14943/J.HighEdu.24.63

This paper attempts to clarify the relationship of university studentsʼ performance with entrance examinations through panel data analysis. Martin Trow (1972) discussed on transition from elite to mass higher education with educational growth. However, he also wrote that some elite education sectors will remain in a mass higher education society. Therefore some elite education sectors or students would maintain their status. Many universities in Japan, including elite universities such as the national ones, have adopted methods for entrance examinations without written tests in these few years. Though Nakamura (2011) pointed out that expansion of the entrance system without the need to apply for entrance to specific faculties or courses of study should be recognized as ʠmass selection,ʡand that we must consider the effects of such systems on elite sectors. Therefore this paper examines how such entrance systems affect elite university students. The panel data used in this paper are from theʠSurvey of the career consciousness of high school students,ʡwhich were collected by questionnaire from 2005 through 2011. The purpose of the survey was to inquire about the career consciousness of high school students, and to follow-up their career situations. I analyzed the academic performance of university students using multiple regression analysis. The results suggested that the dummy variable of an entrance system without written examinations was not significant after controlling for high school rankings and individual academic tracks. In addition, the results showed that female students perfomed better than males in both of elite universities and others. Several recent British studies set the decline in academic achievement and exclusion from the labor market of male students as a social problem (Deborah 2006, Weiner et al. 1997). The results of this paper suggest that we should consider the linkage between the better performance in school and success in labor markets among Japanese women.