1 - Changes in Student Time Use During the Transition from Mass to Universal Higher Education in Japan

Presentation Abstract
This research investigates changes in students’ behavior during the transition from mass to universal higher education in Japan, specifically focusing on students’ time use. Martin Trow proposed that as higher education expanded, students lacking readiness for learning would increase. Surveys conducted in the US have shown a decline in student study time. Conversely, research in Japan indicates that after the 1990s, when higher education expanded to universal access, students exhibited more significant interest in academic activities than before. However, previous research has two limitations: neglecting the distinction between subjective and objective indicators and overlooking aspects of student behavior beyond study. This study employs students’ time use patterns to identify comparable student subgroups across different periods and investigate changes in behavior by analyzing nationally representative data in Japan. Latent Class Analysis was used to extract subgroups with similar time-use patterns. The analysis reveals two points. First, while study time on a weekday has constantly increased from 2001 to 2016, the time on a weekday has not changed much. This result indicates that the students were not as willing to engage in self-study on weekends, although the students in the 2000s were more likely to attend classes. The increase in subjective interest in academic activities, which a previous study has pointed out, was mainly for classes but for self-study. Second, the result from LCA indicates that the increase in weekday study time has come at the expense of weekday leisure time, not a decrease in work time.