看護基礎教育課程における教育投資と収益率の比較：私的および社会的内部収益率の推計

A Comparison of Educational Investments and Returns in Basic Nursing Education Programs: Estimating Private and Social Internal Rates of Return

要旨

　目的：看護師国家試験受験資格の教育課程として大学，短期大学，高等専門学校を対象に，教育投資の私的・社会的収益率を比較検討する．

　方法：私的費用には入学金・授業料等および進学による放棄稼得を含め，社会的費用には公的補助金を加味した．看護師と高卒者の賃金差から期待生涯賃金を算出し，内部収益率を推計した．データは各種統計資料および教育機関の公開情報を用いた．

　結果：私的収益率は私立高等専門学校（男子：1.4％，女子：13.8％）が最も高く，私立大学（男子：-3.4％，女子：8.4％）が最も低かった．社会的収益率は，私立高等専門学校（男子：1.2％，女子：13.4％）が最高で，国立大学（男子：-4.3％，女子：7.3％）が最低であった．

　結論：高収益率の3年制課程に比して，4年制大学進学者が増加する背景は明らかではなく，進路選択や看護の質との関連を含む包括的な研究が求められる．

　Objective: This study compared the educational investment and economic returns of diferent nursing education pathways in Japan that qualify students to take the national examination for registered nurses, specifcally universities, junior colleges, and technical colleges.

　Methods: Private costs were calculated by including admission fees, tuition, other mandatory payments, extracurricular activity costs, commuting expenses, and the earnings foregone by female high school graduates owing to continued education. Social costs were estimated by adding public subsidies and pre-tax foregone earnings to private costs. Expected lifetime earnings were calculated based on the diference between the afer-tax wages of registered nurses and high school graduates. The internal rate of return (IRR) method was used to estimate both private and social rates of return. The data were drawn from government statistics and publicly available information from educational institutions.

　Results: The analysis indicated that the private rates of return were highest for private technical colleges (male: 1.4%, female: 13.8%), whereas the lowest values were observed for private universities (male: -3.4%, female: 8.4%). Regarding the social rates of return, private technical colleges also yielded the highest values (male: 1.2%, female: 13.4%), while the lowest were recorded for national universities (male: -4.3%, female: 7.3%).

　Conclusion: Although junior colleges and technical colleges demonstrate higher returns, the proportion of students entering university continues to rise. The reason for this discrepancy, however, remains unclear. Future research should incorporate frameworks for quantitatively evaluating educational outcomes and exploring the relationship between educational choices and quality of nursing care. Comprehensive investigations are needed to inform evidence-based educational and career decision making in nursing.