professional careers and have been choosing to attend universities in greater numbers. Junior colleges provide many women with vocational credentials to help them navigate through Japan's job market. These colleges frequently emphasize early childhood education, home economics, nursing, teaching, liberal arts, humanities, and social sciences in their curricula. Many polytechnic junior colleges have a small campus with several hundred students. Junior colleges also train people who are studying to become mid-level technicians in civil, mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering sectors. Graduates of polytechnic colleges have a very high rate of employment, as Japan's dominant high technology sector offers a high demand for skilled technicians. Special training schools and community colleges Special training schools and community colleges ( in Japanese) are two-year specialist schools that offer advanced courses for vocational careers that require upper-secondary school completion. Specialized training colleges are not regulated by MEXT. These institutions are less competitive and simpler to enroll in than a university. These institutions awarded an associate degree or a "Diploma" after 2 years of study and an "Advanced Diploma" after three years. People holding a diploma are eligible to transfer to a four-year university and people holding an advanced diploma are eligible to enter a graduate school. These schools offer programs that are classified into eight fields of study: industry, agriculture, medical care, health, education, and social welfare. They offer training in specific skills related to fields such as carpentry, graphic design, hotel management, home economics, hairdressing, fashion design, typing, culinary arts, computer science, engineering, liberal arts, agriculture, early childhood education, bookkeeping, hygiene, foreign languages, therapy, dietetics and medicine. Most graduates of special training schools and community colleges do not continue on to university but instead join the workforce right after graduating. These institutions enroll a large number of men. Some students attend these schools in addition to attending a university to enhance their educational background and broaden their employment opportunities while others go to qualify for technical licenses or professional certifications. The prestige of special training schools is lower than that of universities, but graduates, particularly in technical areas, are readily absorbed by the job market. 80 percent of special training school and community college graduates are able to secure employment and about 90 percent found jobs in fields related to what they have studied. A number of special training school and community colleges have created a dual education philosophy where students are able