Women outperform men after Japan medical school stops rigging exam scores
- Female students who sat the entrance exams at Tokyo’s Juntendo University had a pass rate of 8.28 per cent, compared with 7.72 per cent for their male counterparts
- Juntendo attributed the results to its decision to ‘abolish the unfair treatment of female applicants’, after last year’s revelations it had been manipulating scores in favour of men
Juntendo University in Tokyo said of the 1,679 women who took its medical school entrance exam earlier this year, 139 had passed, accounting for a pass rate of 8.28 per cent. The pass rate among its 2,202 male candidates was 7.72 per cent.
It was the first time in seven years that the pass rate among women was higher than among men, the Asahi newspaper reported.
The university attributed the exam results to its decision to “abolish the unfair treatment of female applicants” after last year’s revelations.
Juntendo was one of several medical schools that were found to have manipulated exam results to give first-time male applicants an advantage over women and others who had previously failed the exam.
The dean of the medical school, Hiroyuki Daida, initially attempted to justify the practice, saying women matured faster than men and had better communication skills.
