Wine and Higher Education

Filed in archive Wine News on August 21, 2006

Back in the day, when I went to college the first time around, I'm on something like my third go-round now (don't even ask!), alcohol was allowed on college campuses, at least in Florida.

Of course, that went out the window with the drinking age going up. While we did have a few sips of wine now and then, the traditional keg party was the rage back then.

Not really a good way to encourage education, but I will say, we had a lot of people come to those parties. Now, one school in Japan is taking a similar approach hoping that by serving wine they will generate more student interest in academics.

From Wine Used to Lure Students:

Faced with slumping student numbers, a university in Kofu has hit upon a possible way to keep enrollments up--sell wine on campus.

Yamanashi University, the only university in Japan to have a wine research institute, hopes its wines will give it a competitive advantage in attracting students.

Wines, made by four local wineries using yeast developed by the university's Institute of Enology and Viticulture, will be sold at a convenience store that will open on campus early next year.

Six major convenience store chain operators have expressed interest in opening an outlet on campus. Next month, the university will choose which operator will run the store.

In April 2004, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry relaxed university management regulations to enable universities to adopt new measures to improve amenities for students and staff.

In the same month, state-run universities, including Yamanashi University, became independent administrative corporations.

"To compete with private universities in the area and the many universities in Tokyo, we must rack our brains to [find ways to] increase our entrance examination applicants," said Hideaki Nukui, president of the university.

The convenience store will open from early morning until late at night. "The existing co-op and the new convenience store will compete with each other to upgrade services," Nukui said.