Reforms are needed to increase transparency in the management of private universities that absorb 80% of university students in the country. The Ministry of Education reform proposal, which is awaiting deliberation, would enhance the powers of the board of trustees responsible for key university management decisions and which, under the government's proposals, will be composed only of outsiders. This is a major change from the current role of the board, which is facilitating cover-ups of malpractice.

Reports that one of Japan's most prestigious medical universities tampered with female applicants' entrance exam scores have sparked an outcry on social media. Tokyo Medical University began altering results in 2011 to ensure under 30% of successful applicants would be women. The private university says it will investigate the discrimination reports. Users online took aim at the Japanese government over the scandal. Critics suggested the allegations were ironic given Prime Minister stated commitment to boost female participation in the workforce. The biggest daily newspaper in Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun, published the report examining student admission numbers on Thursday, generating complaints.

A school operator that runs the Okayama University of Science, owned by a close friend of the prime minister, has been linked to the zero-cost acquisition of city-owned property. The Prime Minister's office may have been involved, leaked documents show. The school was planning to open a veterinary department in Imabari in western Japan. A recently disclosed document claimed the Prime Minister was supporting the school "at the highest level," although the department had not received government approval to build in 52 years.

A scandal over former high-level government officials being given jobs at universities after lobbying on their behalf by the education ministry has cause a public furore in Japan over recent weeks. The administrative vice-minister of education has already been forced to resign and seven other officials from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology face disciplinary action. A government investigation has been launched to investigate dozens of officials in the ministry, which is expected to report back at the end of this month.

Japan’s Ministry of Education is in the hot seat over revelations that it lobbied universities to hire its retiring officials, a practice known as amakudari (descent from heaven) which is officially banned in Japan. In late 2016, damning evidence emerged that the ministry attempted to conceal its involvement in the case of a retiring ministry official landing a job at Waseda University by distributing answers to anticipated questions so that everyone involved could coordinate a story of denial.

A cheating scandal discovered among students vying for entrance to some of Japan's top universities has rocked the nation and set off a national soul search over young people and how dishonesty should be dealt with. The cheaters used a web bulletin board to ask questions while university entrance tests were underway.

The University of Tokyo will overhaul its thesis examination process and throw the book at anyone found to have plagiarized other people's work, according to the university President. The tighter screening and tougher penalties come after the university last month effectively dismissed a Turkish assistant professor and revoked his doctorate after finding he had falsified his academic credentials and plagiarized major portions of his doctoral thesis.