Diversification of Description Forms of English Version of Bachelor’s Degrees in Japan: Current State by Academic Fields and Types of Universities as found by 2017 Survey
Abstract
Although it has been a great concern regarding the excessive diversification of nomenclatures of academic fields of academic degrees and description forms of English version of them, little study has been conducted to address factors associated with the diversification. This study aims to examine the current state of the diversification of description forms of English version of bachelor’s degrees based on the results of the National Survey that National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education (NAID-QE) implemented in 2017. Analyses of 723 universities’ responses (response rate = 96.7%) revealed that description forms of English version of bachelor’s degrees shows different tendencies in each academic field and type of university. In addition, the uniformity of the form of description within a university was detected: it indicates that forms employed by newer universities show more variation compared to those of traditional universities. These results suggest that the diversification of English version of bachelor’s degrees might be associated with both factors of academic fields and types of universities such as types and years of establishment, size of student bodies, and specific traits. It is hoped that the findings of this study help the development of policies for better international recognition of qualifications related to quality assurance on Japanese higher education.
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