Tokyo Medical University elects female president

Sep 21, 2018 | News On Japan

Sep 21, 2018 (NHK) - A Japanese medical university mired in a bribery scandal and under fire for discriminating against female applicants is set to have its first woman president.

Tokyo Medical University says Yukiko Hayashi, chief professor of the department of pathophysiology, was elected at a faculty meeting on Wednesday. There were 2 candidates for the post.

She will officially become the university's first female president if her nomination is approved at a meeting of the board of directors next Tuesday.

Tokyo Medical University's president and board chairman resigned in July over a bribery scandal involving a senior education ministry official.

Prosecutors later indicted the university executives, saying they had the official's son unfairly admitted to the school. The official helped the university to qualify for the ministry's subsidy program in return.

The university in August also admitted manipulating its entrance exam scores to limit the number of female students.

Sources close to the university say that calls for a woman president may have grown at the school as a way to restore its reputation and regain public trust.

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