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Japan Reform
The quality of undergraduate and graduate education was
the
subject of widespread criticism in the 1980s, and its
improvement
was one of the focal points of university reform. One
complaint was
that students, once admitted, had little incentive to
study because
graduation was virtually automatic. Attendance
requirements were
minimal, and, except for examinations, students were free
to come
and go as they pleased. Some of the teaching was poor, and
the
students often did little studying. Students and the
system were
accused of squandering the four years.
In response to the call for university reform in the
reports of
the National Council on Educational Reform, the ministry
founded
the University Council in 1987. High on the council's
agenda were
the diversification and reform of graduate education,
improvement
in the management and organization of universities, and
the
development of a policy for lifelong education and
diversification
in educational activities. The recommendations that had
emerged by
1989 include improvements in the provision of private
financial
support to universities and modified personnel practices
for
college instructors in the national schools. There are
calls for
improved education in the fields of information science
and
automation and the establishment or reorganization of
departments
and research faculties in those fields. Finally, in the
area of
lifelong education, changes under discussion are the
provision of
more public lectures, expansion of university entrance
opportunities for the general adult population,
improvements in the
University of the Air, and better links between the school
and the
community.
The University of the Air, which has no entrance
requirements,
was originally designed to give all Japanese access to
higher
education through radio and television broadcasts.
Although it is
hampered by limited broadcast radius and frequencies, it
has a
potentially leading role in promoting lifelong learning
(see Social Education
, this ch.).
Internationalization is an issue at every education
level, but
particularly for higher education. The number of students
studying
in Japan from foreign countries, especially Asian
countries, is
increasing, and the higher education structure is not
particularly
well equipped to deal with them. In 1988 approximately
25,000
foreign students from more than 100 countries were
studying in
Japanese universities and colleges, and the ministry
expected the
figure to be 100,000 by the beginning of the twenty-first
century.
The ministry is also working to regulate and improve the
standards
for teaching Japanese to foreign students and trying to
improve
their financial and living arrangements. Beginning in the
1980s,
Japanese universities established branches in the United
States,
and many schools in the United States also set up Japanese
branches. At least one Japanese women's university began
to require
its undergraduates to spend a semester on the campus of an
affiliated school in the United States.
As in virtually every other area of education, debate
over
reform of graduate education and research was widespread
at the end
of the 1980s. The University Council established a
subcommittee on
graduate schools consisting of academics, researchers, and
corporate executives. The subcommittee identified a number
of
critical issues: establishing graduate schools that were
independent of traditional university structures, founding
new and
specialized graduate schools, reconsidering entrance and
graduation
criteria, increasing the international student population
and
internationalizing graduate education, addressing the
qualifications of graduate school faculties, modifying the
mission
of doctoral courses, arranging for flexibility in
admissions to
graduate school, standardizing the length of graduate
programs and
reconciling the variations between degrees awarded by
different
schools and in different disciplines, establishing an
accreditation
and evaluation system, and reviewing the financial
situation of
graduate students. These recommendations were acknowledged
in the
ministry's FY 1988 budget, which included funds for
expanding
student aid programs, reforming graduate programs, and
establishing
a new Graduate School for Advanced Studies. Proposed
reform of the
research system concentrated on improving cooperation
between
universities and the private sector, and between
universities and
other institutions.
Finally, the subcommittee recommended greater Japanese
participation and cooperation in international projects
and greater
efforts to make Japanese scientific and technical
literature
available in English. Although there were more programs
for
international scholarly exchange and more foreign
researchers and
foreign graduate students in Japan than in the past,
Japanese
society and education institutions were still having some
difficulties in accommodating them smoothly.
Some of the urgency behind considering reforms in
graduate
education and research comes from the recognition that
Japan is
increasingly involved in advanced research and is no
longer assured
of having foreign models to study. To remain competitive
and to
guarantee its future, Japan needs to make serious changes
in its
education and research structures. Its institutions needs
to be
more flexible and diverse and needs to encourage the
creativity in
education that would foster new technology. This change is
seen to
require a national effort, one not limited to the graduate
sector.
Data as of January 1994
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