TOKYO, July 24 (Xinhua) -- In an aging society with a dropping birthrate, a growing number of Japan's private university failed to gather enough students to meet their admission quotas, Kyodo News reported Monday.

Some 40 percent of private four-year universities failed to meet admission quotas this spring, up 11 percentage points from a year earlier, according to a survey by an association for the promotion of private schools.

The survey by the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corp. for Private Schools in Japan claimed to cover almost all privately operated institutions including 550 four-year universities.

The survey found that 222 of the four-year private universities could not enroll enough students, up by 62 from 2005. Two-year colleges that could not collect enough students rose to 51 percent from 42 percent.

Declining birthrate added to the already intense competition among universities. However, the universities were not downsizing to accommodate the changes, an official from the association said.

Some 4.4 million students (including those applying for more than one university) applied for private four-year universities in academic year 1992. The number dropped to some 2.9 million in this academic year, statistics showed. The quotas, meanwhile, rose to 440,000 this year from 356,000 in school year 1992, according to the report.

Private universities play an important part in Japan's higher education. It is estimated that some 70 percent of university graduates are from privately run universities. Enditem