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In Japan, a medical school has agreed to admit more than 60 women after their rejection by a discriminatory policy meant to eliminate female candidates.
The Medical University of Japan, in Tokyo, admitted in August that it has been reducing candidates' entrance exams for more than 10 years in order to limit the number of women studying there. The school first defended this practice by claiming that women were more likely to leave the medical profession to start a family, which resulted in a shortage of staff in school-affiliated hospitals.
The university has since backed down. On Wednesday, the faculty of medicine announced that it would offer to 67 candidates who had not had the opportunity to register, according to the Associated Press. The number of students who accepted the offer is not clear.
The university president, Yukiko Hayashi, also apologized for the damaging system and promised to "conduct fair entrance exams and never allow this inappropriate practice to recur".
"No one should be discriminated against because of their sex," Hayashi added.
Read more: Tokyo Medical School scandal shows deeply rooted sexism in Japan
The rigging of the examination was discovered during a separate corruption investigation that led to the expulsion of Hayashi's predecessor. The investigator found that the school had reduced the initial test scores of medical school candidates by 20 percent before adding at least 20 points to their exams, according to AP.
Hayashi, who was the first president of the school in September, declined to comment Wednesday on whether students who had been wrongly accepted because of a high grade would be penalized.
According to the Japanese news agency Kyodo, the admissions scandal sparked national indignation and led to an independent committee that found that 69 candidates were denied seats. A group of 24 rejected medical students claimed compensation from the school of 7.69 million yen ($ 67,600).
The discovery of the practices of the University of Tokyo has raised fears that other medical schools will follow similar protocols. In response, the Ministry of Education launched a survey in 81 schools across the country to determine discriminatory admission policies.
