TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Two more Japanese medical schools admitted discrimination against female applicants, a few months after a scandal of Tokyo Medical University was revealed.
Juntendo University admitted setting different passing scores for male and female applicants on the exam.
"Women mature faster mentally than men, and their communication ability is also higher by the time they take the university exam," said Hiroyuki Daida, dean of Juntendo's medical school at a news conference on Monday. "In some ways, this was a measure to help male applicants."
According to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, 165 applicants were unfairly rejected by Juntendo's medical school over the past two years. The university plans to accept an additional 48 applicants in 2019, of whom 47 are female.
Kitasato University, another university in Tokyo, also admitted prioritizing male applicants and applicants who had previously failed the exam fewer times in the past.
"At that time, we judged that the measure was reasonable at our university's discretion," Juntendo University President Hajime Arai apologized at the conference. "We won't do it from now on after being pointed out that our measure was inappropriate."
Kitasato University will consider setting up a third-party committee to solve the matter, Asahi Shimbun reported.
In August, it was revealed that Tokyo Medical University had manipulated entrance exam scores of female applicants on purpose to curb female enrollment. The Japanese education ministry then launched an investigation into the entrance exam processes at 81 other universities with medical faculties.
