About Japanese Universities

In the last entry I wrote I'm not sure whether Kyoto University is normal in Japan or not, because I heard one thing about this university: To graduate Kyoto University is way too easier than other Universities like Osaka University, because even during an exam period, we don't need to study to get credits (of course it depends on the classes, but if you choose "right" classes, you don't need to). This is the only reason why I'm wondering this question.

However, people say that all the Japanese universities' students' levels are so low compare to other countries'.

Why? Because usually we don't study after enrolling in our universities. In order to enroll in universities we study very hard, and that's all. We don't need to study that much in order to graduate, especially in Kyoto University.

And also the social system is a little bit strange compare to European one: When it comes to job seeking, all the students HAVE TO skip their classes otherwise they cannot get any job. This job seeking activity is very competitive so their priority is not studying. Usually job seeking season starts summer, one year before our graduation (For example, if you are a bachelor student, your job seeking season starts summer on your 3rd year), and ends spring (just one year before your graduation). *note: Academic year in Japan is starting from spring.

During this job seeking activity, we have to go to Tokyo (the capital city of Japan) so many times to take interviews etc., have to prepare for them, and sometimes they want us to write about something (what is your weakness, what is your regret in your student life, what did you do most as a student, what is your image about our company etc.) so that we cannot study very much, and the worst thing is those companies (usually) don't expect anything academic from students, even though we've spent at least 3 years by then at universities. I know we don't need so many academic knowledge when we work, but still it's not good if they do not expect ANYTHING from our study and grades. I guess the reason why they don't care about our grades or anything is because we usually have to take an online exams on their website, so that they can judge with those results. I think this is one of the reasons why we don't study much. We don't need to for graduation and getting jobs!

Another strange system is this: if you want to find a job in Japan after university (not an intermediate recruitment), you have to be a graduating student. That is, if you already graduated from your university you cannot even apply for the selections. I really don't understand this system, and I have no idea why do they do this. (Oops, this topic has nothing to do with Japanese universities :P)


Oh, and answer for the Diana's question: the relationship between students and teachers is... Hmm, until we became 4th year students, there are usually no relations. When we are 4th year students, we need to write a thesis with teachers' help to graduate, so during this time we'll be quite friendly.


Phew, I'm really tired of writing this long one...><


(Practice makes perfect! I'll keep writing this English blog so that I would suffer less in the Netherlands :P)