• 日本語

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Japanese Higher Education System

Types  |  Figures  |  Higher Education Reform

Higher Education Reform

Background

Between 1950s and 1970s, the higher education in Japan had grown rapidly grown due to some factors including the high economic growth and the enactment of educational laws. The number of universities and students increased from 178 universities and 130,000 students in 1949 to 382 and 1.4 million in 1970. In this period, new educational system including two-year or three-year junior college and a five-year college of technology, at the request from the industrial sector and the general public.

Regarding the rapidly growing need of international competitiveness due to globalization of economics, society, culture and advanced information society, it is strongly required for higher education institutions in Japan to cultivate human resources with expert knowledge and skills, and to conduct advanced and unique education and research. In this circumstance, the higher education reforms were initiated from the 1980s, for the purpose of improving and enhancing qualities of the higher education system to which it could meet requests from the public.

Since 1960s, the 'quality assurance' and 'quality improvement' of popularized higher education have been made a major policy issue. The frameworks for quality assurance were arranged simultaneously with the higher education reform, in response to the necessity of systematic system for assuring the quality of higher education.
History of evaluation of higher education >>

Deregulation of University Act - 1991
Educational laws including the Standards for the Establishment of Universities were significantly amended in 1991. This was executed on the purpose of making existing systems more flexible, to enable universities to develop their distinctiveness under their missions and objectives. Consequently, the number of universities and junior colleges increased and general education courses in universities were abolished due to enhancing professional education.

University Reform Policy Introduced - 2001
Since 2001, the government reform was executed in consideration of downsizing population and rapid changes of the environment of the society. 'A Policy for the Structural Reform of Universities' was reported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2001 as part of the reform. This report gave overall direction to the university reform to which they could create and disseminate expertise/skills in response to public interests. It indicated these are done by:

• Reorganizing and merging national universities, and strengthening higher education and enhancing research infrastructure
• Converting national universities to university corporations through the private-sector management methods
• Introducing the principle of competition by using third-party evaluation i.e. distribution of funds according to evaluation results, and setting various competitive funds including the 21st Century COE Program.

National University Incorporation - 2004
As part of the significant reform, all national universities were incorporated in 2004 with respect to the Report by MEXT. One of significant change is that MEXT set mid-term (six-year) goal of each corporation by respecting their ideas put forward. Then the corporations set mid-term (six-year) plans in line with the goals, which were authorized by MEXT. This incorporation aimed at the following effects.

ENLARGE - PDF

Future Vision
Due to the acceleration of low birthrates, aging of population and growing mobility of higher education, it can be easily assumed that various types of learners will wish to receive higher education. With being conscious of the interaction with the society, higher education institutions and related organizations should strive to fulfill their needs, through providing high-quality programs with international credibility, and assuring their qualities through multiple evaluation systems.

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