Japan Data

Waseda and Kansai Score High in University Brand Power Survey

Education

In a survey on Japanese university brand power, Kansai University especially stands out for ranking top for 14 consecutive years in the Kansai region.

Since 2008, Recruit has been conducting an annual university brand power survey, targeting third year high school students, to get a clearer understanding of trends among this group in choosing a university.

For the 2021 survey, 120,000 questionnaires were sent out and 12,271 valid responses received. The results showed that Waseda University bounced back as the top academic institute in the Kantō region where high school students wanted to study.

Kantō

Waseda University rose from second place last year to return to the top. Meiji University came second. Meiji was most popular for boys for the second year running, while Rikkyō and Aoyama Gakuin shared first place for girls.

Ranking University Desirability
1 (2) Waseda 10.0
2 (1) Meiji 9.7
3 (3) Aoyama Gakuin 8.7
4 (4) Rikkyō 7.9
5 (5) Chūō 6.5
6 (5) Nihon 6.2
6 (6) Hōsei 6.2
8 (9) Keiō 5.5
9 (7) Tōyō 4.7
10 (11) Chiba 4.3

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the Recruit Shingaku Sōken 2021 survey on university brand power. (Highlighting indicates national/public universities.)

Tōkai

Meijō University came top for the fifth year in a row. Boys chose Meijō as their number one for the second year running and girls selected Nagoya City for the first time since the survey began. Six out of the top ten were national or public universities.

Ranking University Desirability
1 (1)  Meijō 10.9
2 (2) Nagoya 8.2
3 (3) Chūkyō 7.5
4 (4) Nanzan 7.3
5 (5) Nagoya City 6.8
6 (9) Shizuoka 6.4
7 (12) Mie 6.0
8 (6) Gifu 5.8
9 (10) Nagoya Institute of Technology 5.4
10 (13) Shukutoku 5.0

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the Recruit Shingaku Sōken 2021 survey on university brand power. (Highlighting indicates national/public universities.)

Kansai

Kansai University remained overwhelmingly popular, staying top for the fourteenth consecutive year, as has been the case since the start of the survey. Girls have chosen it as their top university every year and boys for the third year in a row.

Ranking University Desirability
1 (1) Kansai 13.5
2 (2) Kindai 10.7
3 (7) Dōshisha 8.7
4 (3) Kwansei Gakuin 8.6
5 (8) Osaka 8.5
6 (6) Kobe 8.4
7 (4) Ritsumeikan 7.7
8 (5) Osaka City 7.1
9 (9) Ryūkoku 6.0
10 (10) Osaka Prefecture 4.3

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the Recruit Shingaku Sōken 2021 survey on university brand power. (Highlighting indicates national/public universities.)

Nearly 60% of students in the Kantō region indicated they preferred private to public or national universities. At 54%, students in the Tōkai region leaned the most strongly toward public and national options. In the Kansai region, although public and national universities ranked higher in 2017 and 2018, for the last three years since 2019, more students are leaning toward private.

Preferences for Public/National or Private Universities

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta)

university Kansai Kantō Waseda