Goto Rei, Kakihara Hiroaki
The Hakubi Center of Advanced Research, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.
Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.
Hum Resour Health. 2016 Feb 9;14:4. doi: 10.1186/s12960-016-0102-2.
The shortage of physicians in rural areas and in some specialties is a societal problem in Japan. Expensive tuition in private medical schools limits access to them particularly for students from middle- and low-income families. One way to reduce this barrier and lessen maldistribution is to offer conditional scholarships to private medical schools.
A discrete choice experiment is carried out on a total of 374 students considering application to medical schools. The willingness to receive a conditional scholarship program to private medical schools is analyzed.
The probability of attending private medical schools significantly decreased because of high tuition, a postgraduate obligation to provide a service in specific specialty areas, and the length of time of this obligation. An obligation to provide a service in rural regions had no significant effect on this probability. To motivate non-applicants to private medical schools to enroll in such schools, a decrease in tuition to around 1.2 million yen (US$ 12,000) or less, which is twice that of public schools, was found to be necessary. Further, it was found that non-applicants to private medical schools choose to apply to such schools even with restrictions if they have tuition support at the public school level.
Conditional scholarships for private medical schools may widen access to medical education and simultaneously provide incentives to work in insufficiently served areas.
日本农村地区和某些专业的医生短缺是一个社会问题。私立医学院高昂的学费限制了人们接受此类教育的机会，尤其是对中低收入家庭的学生而言。减少这一障碍并减轻分布不均的一种方法是向私立医学院提供有条件奖学金。
对总共374名考虑申请医学院的学生进行了离散选择实验。分析了接受私立医学院有条件奖学金计划的意愿。
由于学费高昂、研究生有义务在特定专业领域提供服务以及该义务的时长，就读私立医学院的可能性显著降低。在农村地区提供服务的义务对这一可能性没有显著影响。为了激励未申请私立医学院的学生报考此类学校，发现有必要将学费降至约120万日元（12,000美元）或更低，这是公立学校学费的两倍。此外，还发现未申请私立医学院的学生如果能获得公立学校水平的学费支持，即使有限制也会选择申请此类学校。
私立医学院的有条件奖学金可能会扩大医学教育的入学机会，同时为在服务不足地区工作提供激励。
