|
|
 |
||
|
Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > Japanese Government Policies in Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 2001 >Chapter8 Section2.3 | |
With the arrival of the new age of transition to a knowledge-based society, economic globalization and the rapid development of science and technology, the role of higher education is increasingly becoming important for all countries in ground-breaking fields that require intellectuality in the form of highly trained human resources to conduct leading-edge research. Japan recognizes these new times as "the age that strongly calls for further structural reform of higher education to further strengthen intellectual activities" and is aiming to promote higher educational reform to achieve the global standard. Other countries are also placing reform of higher education very high on their agenda and are implementing policies to promote it as well as to activate and further sophisticate educational and research activities.
Concerning the expansion of higher education, the percentage of students who go on to receive higher education began to increase relatively early in the U.S. and Japan, where 30% to 40% of youths advanced to higher education institutions in 1970s. The advancement rate for full-time students is now around 50%. In the U.S., there are policies that would enable all youths to receive higher education. European countries were lagging somewhat behind in this respect, with an approximate 20% advancement rate in 1980s. However, the U.K. and France adopted policies to expand higher education in the late 1980s. The result is that higher education in those countries has since seen a rapid expansion and is now at the same level as the U.S. and Japan. In Germany, too, the advancement rate is currently over 30%.
In the Republic of Korea, the advancement rate to universities and colleges has increased to about 70%. China, a country where the advancement rate had been hovering around 5%, has seen an expansion over the last few years. China's plan is to realize a 15% advancement rate within the next five years.
Thus, higher education in these countries has moved from the so-called elite-stage to the age of "popularization and universalization."
The governments of countries where higher education has expanded in scale are facing the need to review their funding systems for higher education, which has been supported by public financing.
One aim of the reforms is the more effective allocation of national and local budgets. This, from the viewpoint of higher education institutions, means effective management and producing results that justifies the allocated budgets. The U.S. and the U.K. allocate a part of the funds according to the performances. In France, a policy has been implemented under which a university's budget is allocated in four-year units on the condition that the national authority and the university enter into a contract and that the university executes the items stated in the contract. In China, "Project 211," the priority allocation of budgets to certain universities, is under way.
Another direction is the use of private funding, including tuition fees. The U.K., which originally did not charge tuition fees, began to do so in 1998. Public universities in the U.S. have raised tuitions and fees significantly (doubling them between 1985 and 1995) in reaction to the worsening fiscal situation of the states in the early 1990s. In Germany, as well, there have been intense discussions on whether to maintain the free university system, and some have begun raising tuition fees from students who stay much longer than the standard periods of study. China abolished its free university system in 1989.
Industry-university cooperation enables universities to carry out research and develop human resources with funding from companies or private research institutions. A growing number of countries value this cooperation since the outcome of academic research contributes to the development of the economy and provides universities with an important source of funding.
Expansion of higher education is not only causing financial problems, it is also raising concerns over the degradation of the quality of education as the number of students increases. In French universities, the number of entrants has doubled for ten years, but 40% to 50% of students drop out before their third year because of low academic performances. The government has put its first priority on improving the initial two years of university and begun a tutor system along with better acquisition of basic academic abilities.
In the U.S. as well, more than 70% of universities, offer a remedial education program to provide upper secondary school level classes to those students who do not have enough academic knowledge and academic skills to study at universities and colleges. However, in recent years, the number of students taking these courses has increased so much that universities are stretched to the limit and some are considering scaling down their supplementary education programs. In the U.K., where the number of students doubled over a 15-year period lasting until the mid-1990s, an institute is created to accredit and develop programs of teaching in higher education.
While expectations for "intellectual contributions" by higher education institutions rise, there is an increasing tendency to emphasize accountability for the results of education and study, and policies have been implemented to promote the activation and sophistication of education and study. One example is the implementation and enhancement of university evaluation. In the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, evaluations by either the government or third-party organizations started in many countries. Among these, the U.S., the U.K. and the Republic of Korea reflect the result of this evaluation in their budget allocations. Germany, which has begun to work seriously on educational reform in recent years, is also considering this method.
When seen from another perspective, these policies for the activation and sophistication of education and research can be interpreted as "creating a competitive environment." The abovementioned method of reflecting the results of university evaluation in budget allocations and China's Project 211 priority investment program have similar characteristics. In addition, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea are promoting diversification and individuation of higher education institutions, which can be seen as a part of the trend to form a competitive environment. In China, legislation was made in 1998 to turn national and public universities into independent administrative entities.
Competition surrounding university entrance examinations is not regarded as a serious educational problem in Western countries, but it may be characterized as a problem common to all Asian nations.
Naturally, in Western countries too, sufficient academic skills and rigorous preparation to acquire those skills are needed to enter prestigious universities. This, however, is not usually regarded as an educational problem, due probably to the fact that as a general rule, the admission system allows a student to choose whichever university he or she wishes once the qualifications for admission are met. In France and Germany, where there is no large imparity among universities that are above a certain level and students are able to transfer from one school to another with relative ease, there is no great concentration of applicants at any particular university.
In China and the Republic of Korea, on the contrary, competition for entrance to universities is fierce and this has created a long-standing problem of education putting too much emphasis on passing entrance examinations and too much burden of study on students. China, in principle, banned the free publication of drill books for entrance exams, the establishment of cram schools intended to prepare students for entrance examinations and the attending of prominent schools outside one's designated school zone. The Republic of Korea at one time prevented cram schools from offering entrance examination preparations and private tutoring. It also abolished entrance examinations by individual universities in an effort to lessen the burden on students and allowed universities to adopt a variety of selection methods such as the use of nationwide examinations, more emphasis on activity records from upper secondary schools and the introduction of interviews. Competitive selection is also intense in Singapore, where students in elementary and secondary schools are classified into courses such as those designated for advancement to universities. Although these countries have created inventive measures to ease competition, it remains a major educational policy problem.
| Back To Top | MEXT HOME |