This year's pass ratio of female applicants for admission to the scandal-tainted Tokyo Medical University, which had discriminated against women for more than a decade, was slightly higher than that of male applicants, figures released by the university have shown.

The pass ratio for women was 20.2 percent, 0.4 percentage point higher than that of men. Last year, the successful ratio for women was only 2.9 percent, while that of men was 9 percent.

The surge in the pass rate for both sexes was apparently the result of entrance examination reform. Last year the university admitted it had systematically manipulated scores of female applicants so that it would admit far fewer women than men. Yukiko Hayashi, who in the wake of the scandal became the school's first female president, had pledged to conduct a "fair and impartial" entrance exam this year.