Survey: 84% of university students find life fulfilling

The Yomiuri Shimbun

11:47 JST, September 14, 2022

More than 80% of university students find their student life “fulfilling,” a level last seen before the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to a nationwide survey.

However, third-year students had the lowest level of satisfaction, as the pandemic prevented them from going to campus when they first entered university.

The survey was conducted online in July by the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations (NFUCA). A total of 5,225 university students across Japan responded.

The percentage who said their student lives were “fulfilling” was 84.3%, up 29 points from last summer and close to the 88.8% in the survey conducted in the fall of 2019, before the pandemic.

By year, 88.1% of freshmen were satisfied, 84% of sophomores, and 81.7% of fourth through sixth-year students. Juniors recorded the lowest rate at 76.1%.

As for the number of days students went to school per week, five days drew the most responses at 45.9%, up 28.7 points from the same period last year. Classes were “entirely in person” for 29.5% of the answering students, followed by “90% in person” for 22.1% and “80% in person” for 12.5%.

A survey conducted in summer 2020 found that 28% of then freshmen — who are currently juniors — had made no friends since entering college. The latest poll recorded that no friends had been made by 2.1% of freshmen, 2.8% of sophomores, 4.8% of juniors and 2.2% of fourth through sixth-year college students.

“Starting this school year, the implementation of in-person classes has increased to a level close to before the pandemic, and students are going to campus more often, so they seem to be more satisfied with their campus life,” a representative of NFUCA said.