Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > Japanese Government Policies in Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 2001 >EDUCATIONAL REFORM Q&A Q14

MEXT recently publicized the Policies for the Structural Reform of Universities (National Universities). As the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) was in the process of mapping out Structural Reform of the Japanese Economy: Basic Policies for Macroeconomic Management (the so-called Basic Policies), MEXT worked out the policy to present the ministry's thinking about the direction of restructuring national universities. This policy was explained by the MEXT Minister at a session of the CEFP on 11 June 2001.

The policy set three guiding principles for the restructuring of universities with the aim of making Japanese universities vigorous and internationally competitive institutions:

  The first guideline is designed for the promotion of universities' reorganization and consolidation with bold and flexible ways of thinking amid the prevailing severe economic and fiscal conditions so that they can plan for their further development by upgrading education and research activities, actively expanding into interdisciplinary fields and strengthening education and research bases under their own strategies as organizational entities.

  The second guideline is aimed to revitalize the management of national universities through the participation of outside experts in the management of national universities and the introduction of the new personnel system based on abilities and performances, on the basis of the ongoing consideration of a plan to turn national universities into independent administrative institutions.

  The third guideline is designed to create a competitive environment for national, public and private universities by introducing an objective and fair evaluation by third-party institutions, in line with the recommendation report by the now-disbanded University Council. Through the priority allocation of resources on the basis of third-party evaluation, the policy aims to have universities compete to become institutions meeting the world's highest standards (among the top 30 national, public and private universities), thus raising the overall level of education and research activities at Japanese universities.

MEXT intends to implement the policy's guidelines boldly and with a sense of speed while listening to the opinions of university people and others concerned.

  As for the first guideline regarding the reorganization and consolidation of national universities, many national universities are now making a broad and active consideration of options from the standpoint of securing the future advancement of their education and research activities. Already, there are four universities planning to integrate in October 2002: Yamanashi University and Yamanashi Medical College, and University of Tsukuba and University of Library and Information Science. There are also universities considering plans for consolidation in FY2003. MEXT plans to further facilitate the reorganization and consolidation of universities, in line with the process of forward-looking consideration by the universities concerned.

  For the second guideline regarding the introduction of private-sector ideas for the management of national universities, an investigation council at MEXT is currently considering the specifics for plans to turn national universities into independent administrative institutions. By sorting out the results of the ongoing investigation by the end of the current fiscal year, the ministry is aiming to realize the shift to new institutions as early as possible.

  As for the third guideline regarding the principle of competition based on third-party evaluation, such evaluation by the National Institution for Academic Degrees is now being phased in with the goal of its full introduction from FY2003. The ministry also plans to take necessary measures to launch the Top 30 initiative from the next fiscal year. The initiative's specific scheme, applicable to institutions at the level of graduate schools (master's courses) of national, public and private universities, calls for the concentrated allocation of resources to institutions with a high potential for both research and qualified human resources development, selected by an objective, fair and just third-party evaluation of experts and other knowledgeable people upon applications for each academic field by interested universities.