Since Dipak Basu is an economics professor, I believe that he owes us a more detailed explanation of his assertion, in his Jan. 19 letter, "Unfair criticisms of education," that the "number of students in the universities have not declined" as predicted by those who are influenced by demographic factors only.
The Japanese university where I work is struggling with sharply declining enrollment. But I'm not an economist and I hesitate to extrapolate this to a generalization about national trends. It has been reported in publications such as The Guardian, Time magazine and The Japan Times that up to 40 percent of private Japanese universities could disappear over the next few years.
Basu's exciting news that the number of students in Japan is not falling is welcome. Since Basu's claim is so revelatory, I encourage The Japan Times to provide him with the space to explain his data.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.