Managing differentiation of higher education system in Japan: connecting excellence and diversity

Abstract

This article presents recent reform processes in Japanese higher education, concerning the tensions emerging within the system regarding 'excellence' and 'diversity'. The article particularly focuses on how Japanese universities have reacted to the recent 'competition' and 'differentiation' policy promoted by the government, drawing on recent survey results conducted with academic managers at Japanese universities. It is interesting to examine the case of Japan, a historically diversified and differentiated national system, which has been changing rapidly with recent national 'top-down' policy reforms, followed by more recent and new bottom-up institutional initiatives. The study shows that universities are trying to achieve excellence, fulfilling different functions at the same time, aspiring to be excellent in teaching, research and social contribution without having institutional capacity to meet these expectations. Appropriate internal governance and external mediation mechanisms need to be created at the institutional level to manage diversification of the higher education system as a whole.

Missions of the Japanese National University Corporations in the 21st Century: Content Analysis of Mission Statements

“…However, it is also true that there are concerns about the negative ramifications of the reform guided by neoliberalism. Some (Kitagawa & Oba, 2010;Oba, 2005) observe that the current reform has created a gap between the "haves" and "have nots" among the Japanese NUCs, reinforcing the existing hierarchy of the Japanese higher-education system. They conclude in their study that the government's efforts to establish a select few NUCs as world-class research bases have increased the advantageous position of the former imperial universities and have raised their status as elite universities even more than before.…”

“…A series of higher-education reform initiatives in Japan began in the 1980s (Doyon, 2001) at a time when neo-liberalism was taking root in higher education worldwide. Deliberations related to earlier reform initiatives and the incorporation of the national universities are considered as Japan's alignment with neo-liberalism (Oba, 2005;Kitagawa & Oba, 2010;Kaneko, 2009). Neo-liberalism stands on the premise that the efficiency, productivity, and quality of organizations are best achieved through deregulation and encouraging autonomy, entrepreneurism, and competition.…”

English for Academic Purposes in Neoliberal Universities: A Critical Grounded Theory

“…Japanese university administrators are responsible for overseeing that these new industrial processes are ensuring quality, effi ciency, and satisfying the quantitative external assessment of university programs (Woolgar 2007 ;Kitagawa 2009 ;Mulvey 2010 ). Similar to British and American HEIs, the discourse of 'quality' and 'excellence' is becoming more frequent, and is often used to justify whatever new rule or missive handed down from on high (Yonezawa 2002 ;Kitagawa and Oba 2010 ). Within these changes, however, TEAPs in Japan struggle to apply engineering standards of quality to the art of language instruction (Nevara 2004 ).…”

The Academic Profession and University Governance Participation in Japan: Focusing on the Role of Kyoju-kai

“…For example, Kaneko (2004) reflected on the traditions and historical dynamics of the higher education system in Japan, and tried to explain the implications of incorporation of national universities implemented in 2004. Kitagawa and Oba (2010) argued that the increasing number of policy initiatives within universities were a reaction to government-led national university reforms.…”