Part 1
Higher Education to Support a Knowledge-Based Society Full of Creative Vitality - New Developments in Higher Education Reform
Chapter 1
Current Extent of Higher Education Reform
Section 4
Organizational Management to Support Reforms
4
Transmission of Information Externally and Reflection of External Opinions
It is necessary for universities as public institutions to ensure accountability by widely disclosing to the public information such as their education and research targets, planning and results, university entrance and learning opportunities, and research issues. Consequently, MEXT has amended the Standards for the Establishment of Universities, and made compulsory the public disclosure of the results of self-monitoring and self-evaluation as well as active information provision concerning education and research activities. In response, universities, through websites and public relations magazines, are carrying out various kinds of information provision such as introducing syllabi and educator organizations, publicly disclosing the state of their research activities and cooperation between industry and academia, and other matters concerning extension courses. (In 2001, there were 99 national universities, 74 public universities, and 497 private universities disclosing university information through medium such as public relations magazines and the Internet.)
Furthermore, in this current time said to be the "age of knowledge," universities, which bear a role as "centers of knowledge creation and its inheritance," are required to lead society through their intellectual activities. For this reason, in order for universities to fulfill their aforementioned responsibility as social entities, it has become important for them to develop systems to listen to external opinions about the state of education and research activities as well as cooperation and exchange with local communities and industries, and then to reflect these opinions in the next generation of university management.
