Japan Press Weekly

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2011 December 7 - 13 [EDUCATION]

More than half of college students receive scholarships in US and 5 European nations

More than 50 percent of college students in the U.S. and 5 European countries receive scholarships while Japan does not even have such a grant program.

This was the finding of the National Diet Library (NDL), which studied 30 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in response to a request made by Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives member Miyamoto Takeshi.

Out of the 30 nations, 16 release the percentage of college scholarship recipients. More than 50% are awarded scholarships in Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, the U.K., and the U.S., and more than 10% by all 16 countries.

Among the 30, 28 countries have free scholarship programs, and 15 provide tuition-free education for college students. Japan is the only nation that has neither of the two programs. In three North European countries where university tuitions are free, 50 to 70% of students are receiving scholarship assistance as well.

The following is JCP Dietmember Miyamoto’s comment: “International Covenants on Human Rights calls on its member states to gradually make their higher-education programs free. In addition to the free-tuition system, many European countries set scholarship programs in order to guarantee students’ living costs.

“On the other hand, Japan continues to raise college tuitions under the pretext of the ‘beneficiary-pays’ principle, which makes the rate of college enrollment among students in low-income households lower. The JCP will strive to include in the budget for the next fiscal year funds for a repayment-free scholarship system.”