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Japan The Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture
The Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture (often
shortened to Ministry of Education or Monbusho ) is the
primary
authority over higher education. It approves the
establishment of
all new institutions, both public and private, and
directly
controls the budgets of all national institutions and
their
affiliated research institutes. In addition, the ministry
regulates
many aspects of the university environment, including
standards for
academics and physical plants and facilities. The ministry
also
provides subsidies to private higher education
institutions for
both operation and equipment and made long-term loans for
physical
plant improvement.
Government appropriations are the largest source of
funds for
national universities (more than 75 percent), and tuition
and fees
provides most revenues for private schools (about 66
percent), with
subsidies accounting for another 10 to 15 percent for the
private
schools. The 1975 Private School Promotion Law allowed the
government to subsidize private education and increased
the
ministry's authority over private schools, but the
ministry's own
budgetary limits and general fiscal restraint have tended
to limit
such subsidies, which remained relatively low. In FY 1988,
for
example, only ¥244 billion of the total ministry budget of
¥4.6
trillion went for this purpose.
The Ministry of Education has two major areas of
responsibility
related to graduate education and research. In addition to
being
generally responsible for the national universities and
establishing their research institutes, the ministry also
promotes
the research conducted at universities and funded both
institutions
and individuals. About a half-dozen research institutes,
such as
the National Institute for Educational Research and the
National
Institute for Special Education, are also under direct
ministry
supervision. Several types of research organizations are
affiliated
with universities: the national research institutes
attached to
national universities, independent research facilities
affiliated
with national universities but open to researchers from
universities throughout Japan, other research centers, and
other
facilities at national, local, public, and private
universities.
The ministry is not the exclusive agent for funding and
promoting research, but it accounted for about half of the
entire
government budget for research throughout most of the
1980s. In
addition to providing funds for research institutes and
national
universities, the ministry gives smaller amounts for
scientific
grants and programs in other public and private
institutions.
The ministry can devote funds to particular areas of
research
that it considered important. In FY 1988, the ministry
emphasized
the following programs in its budget: space science,
particularly
scientific satellites, rockets, and astronomy; high-energy
physics
and accelerator experiments; and construction of a
national
research and development information network.
Data as of January 1994
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