2019 Volume 65 Issue 2 Pages 172-178
Objective: Universities support student clubs because the social and educational experiences acquired through the extracurricular activities are considered important to promote their humanity. In this study, we examined membership of clubs by medical students at Juntendo University over the 30-year Period of Heisei.
Materials: We studied 2,899 students (2,087 men and 812 women) who graduated from Juntendo University within the 30-year Heisei Era.
Methods: We divided the 30-year Heisei Era into 3 periods (1: 1989 to 1998; 2: 1999 to 2008; and 3: 2009 to 2018) and investigated changes in the number of club members during each period.
Results: At Juntendo University, 89% of all medical students were members of clubs and 11% did not belong to any club. During Period 1, the number of students who belonged to sporting clubs was overwhelmingly large (744, 80.2%), while only 74 students (8.0%) belonged to non-sporting clubs and 110 students (11.8%) were not members of any club. During Period 2, the variety of non-sporting clubs increased and the number of students participating in non-sporting clubs increased significantly to 116 (12.6%)(p<0.01). During Period 3, the number of students who did not belong to any club decreased significantly to 83 (7.8%)(p<0.01).
Conclusion: Most medical students at Juntendo University belonged to clubs. While sporting clubs have been dominant to date, it is expected that the variety of non-sporting clubs will increase in the future.
