Daigakkō

Japan

In Japan, use of the word "daigakkō"(大学校) is not regulated by laws or ordinances, so many educational or training facilities are named as "daigakko". Those are categorized as follows:

1. The training facilities operated by the governmental offices such as ministries and agencies.
2. The lectures as lifelong learning for the citizens provided by local governments.
3. The educational facilities which are certified as they can provide education as same as Universities and Graduate schools, and which can provide academic degrees.
4. The educational facilities which provide higher education, but can't provide academic degrees.
5. The special schools named "daigakkō" before School Education Act in enforce in 1947.

Korea

In Korea, universities and colleges of 4 years are written as "大學校" (pronounced as "Taehakkyo" in Korean). Korea University which has a relationship with the North Korean government in Japan is written as "朝鮮大學校" (pronounced as Chosŏn Taehakkyo in Korean), but it can not provide any academic degrees because it has never been certified as a university by the Japanese Ministry of Education.

Daigakkō and other post-secondary institutions

In Japan, use of the word "daigakkō" is not regulated by laws or ordinances. They could offer accredited full-time six-year courses or a single-day training courses depending on institutions and courses. They can be established by national and local governments or can be private institutions. Some daigakkō-s are recognised as "specialized training colleges" (ja:専修学校, senshū gakkō) by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) or "miscellaneous schools" (ja:各種学校, kakushu gakkō) by the local boards of education or the governors of the prefectures.

It is also true for "daigaku" (大学) but the word "daigakkō" is a word to clarify that the daigakkō does not award academic degrees of its own. Currently no institutions (their English names could be "university", "institute of technology", "medical college" or "junior college") established or recognised directly by the MEXT and can offer academic degrees of their own carry "daigakkō" in their names. They use "daigaku (大学)" or "tanki daigaku" (短期大学 for a junior college) instead.

In early Meiji era The Imperial College of Engineering (工部大学校, Kōbu Daigakkō) was a mainstream higher education institution established by Monbushō (current MEXT).

Daigakkō with NIAD-UE accredited courses: equivalent as universities

Some daigakkō's mainstream courses are accredited by the National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation (NIAD-UE), an independent administrative institution (IAI) affiliated with the MEXT and the graduates can obtain academic degrees awarded by the NIAD-UE by application.

Administered by the national government: tuition-fee free, salary paid

The following daigakkō are administered by the national government, and the tuition-fee is for free and the students are paid salary. In addition, these daigakkō are specially called "Shō-Chō-Daigakkō"(Ministry-Agency-Daigakkō, 省庁大学校) which are regulated to be founded by laws. The students in the following schools are appointed as government officials automatically when they entered, and they are paid salary every month, and they are exempted from paying tuition-fee.

The mainstream students of above daigakkōs are tuition fee free. They are paid salaries (except the NCN) by the national government as the establishing administrations' employees. The NDMC's graduates who retire before serving nine years for Japan Self-Defense Forces must refund their training costs.

Independent administrative institutions: tuition fee payable

The mainstream students of the above daigakkō must pay tuition fee similar to Japanese national universities.

Academic degrees

If the courses set by daigakkō were certified as they come up to the level of master's course or doctoral courses by NIAD-UE, the alumni and alumnae are certificated as Bachelors, Masters, and Doctors after investigation. The following schools are the only daigakkō which are certified by NIAD-UE, and other educational institutes named as "daigakkō" can not provide any academic degrees.

Administered by the national government

The run training courses for public servants. Note institutions whose objectives and functions are similar but names are not daigakkō, say gakkō (School) are not included in this list. These schools are not certified by NIAD-UE, so they can not give any academic degrees.

Administered by a special institution

Postal College runs training courses for the employees of Japan Post.

Administered by Independent Administrative Institutions

All of the providers of the following daigakkō are Independent Administrative Institutions(IAI).

Administered by local governments

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Independent Administrative Institution

Private Institutions

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