日米両国の四年制大学における単位制度の比較に関する研究

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The Department of Education at ICU Liberal Arts College conducted, in the academic year of 1989-90, a comparative study on the credit systems of four-year colleges and universities in Japan and the United States. This article is a report with a comment on the findings of the survey. I We sent a questionnaire to all the 1,268 colleges (gakubu) in all of the 500 Japanese universities and asked about 1. the number of course units required for graduation, 2. the requirement concerning the senior thesis, 3. the regulation concerning the promotion (student classification), 4. the regulation concerning the maximum number of the units a student may earn in one academic year, and 5. the regulation concerning the minimum number of the units a student must get in one academic year. 909 colleges responded. Main findings are as follows: 1. Average number of the units required for graduation from four-year colleges is 133.6, the range being between 124 and 178.5. (In the Law concerning the Chartering of Colleges and Universities (Daigaku Setchi Kijun) it is stipulated that 1) one unit means 45 hours of study inside and outside the classroom and 2) the minimum number of units for graduation shall be 124.) 2. Concerning the senior thesis requirement, almost all of the colleges of letters and the colleges of engineering require senior thesis, whereas about two thirds of the colleges of law and one third of the colleges of economics require it. 3. Generally speaking, there is no concept of the promotion or student classification in Japanese colleges and universities, although many of them have the regulation concerning the minimum number of units to be earned or specific courses to be taken by a certain specific time such as the end of the so-called General Education Section (kyoyo katei, i.e., usually first two years of the undergraduate education). 4. Concerning the maximum number of units, a student may earn, the regulations vary among the colleges. In case of the colleges of economics, 61.8% of them have the regulation concerning the maximum number, and the average number of upper limit units in those colleges which have such regulation is 49.2 in one academic year. In case of the colleges of engineering, 13.5% of them have such regulation and the average number of the upper limit units in those colleges which have such regulation is 53.6 in one academic year. Concerning the minimum number of units a student must consecutively earn in each academic year, very few colleges in Japan stipulate the regulation. In case of the colleges of economics, 2.7% of them have such regulation, and in case of the colleges of engineering, 2.9%. The average number of the minimum units to be consecutively earned in each academic year is 16. II We asked 300 American colleges and universities to send us the catalogues, with which 176 colleges complied. The examination of these catalogues shows that the minimum number required for graduation form semester-system colleges is 126.3, and that of term-system (quarter-system) colleges is 185.0. (One unit of term-system colleges usually corresponds to 2/3 unit of semester-system colleges.) 68.7% of colleges prescribes the maximum number of units, the average number of which is 18.1 per semester and 18.4 per term. 60.4% of colleges prescribes the minimum number of units, the average number of which is 12.2 per semester and 13.3 per term. Many colleges adopt the normal course load system. In case of the University of California at Berkeley, 30 units in each academic yeasr are set as normal course load. III Comparison of the Credit Systems of Japanese and American Colleges and University 1. There is no difference between the American and the Japanese colleges and universities in the definition of one unit (provided that one unit of term-system colleges in the United States is adjusted to that of semester-system colleges). 2. In case of Japanese colleges and universities, there is a fairly big difference in the minimum number of units required for graduation, the range being between 124 and 178.5, whereas in American colleges there is no big difference. 3. Remarkably very few Japanese colleges have the regulation concerning the maximum and minimum number of units, whereas many of American colleges have such regulation. IV Based on the survey, the author argues on the problem of the "hollowed" credit (tan-i seido no kudo-ka) in the Japanese colleges and universitiers, and proposed the introduction of the so-called "normal course load system" or "the minimum progress system" widely adopted in American colleges and universities into the colleges and universities of Japan
国際基督教大学の論文

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讃岐和家
国際基督教大学

日米両国の四年制大学における単位制度の比較に関する研究

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