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In recent years, there has been a strong demand for diversification and flexible development of higher education in terms of both the system and its contents. Accordingly, the system dealing with the standards of higher education has been so improved that universities and junior colleges may be able to reform their educational content of their own accord by exercising a sense of originality and ingenuity. Major examples of such improvements are listed below.

. Increasing Flexibility in Preparation of Curriculum for General Education in Universities

As a means of increasing flexibility in general education in universities, such steps have been taken since fiscal 1971 as instituting subjects dealing with the three fields of humanities, social, and natural sciences - either those dealing with one academic fields or integrated subjects consisting of content dealing with two or more of academic fields - and enabling students to substitute credits in foreign language subjects, basic education subjects or specialized education subjects for a portion of credits in general education subjects.

. Implementation of Credit Exchange System

Beginning in the 1972 school year, a university was authorized to regard credits in certain subjects earned previously by its students at other universities (including foreign universities) as units earned in the present university, when found beneficial to students from an educational viewpoint.

. Increasing Flexibility in Division of Subjects

Course subjects in universities are classified, according to their content, as either general education, foreign language, health and physical education, specialized education or basic education. Beginning in the 1973 school year, however, students were allowed to study the subjects flexible without being strictly bound by such classifications, for example, to study as a general education subject a certain subject instituted as a specialized education subject or study as a specialized education subject a certain subject instituted as a general education subject.

. Increasing Flexibility of Curriculum in Graduate Schools

Under the Graduate School Establishment Standards enacted in 1974, such measures for increasing the flexibility of the curriculum were taken as broadening the objectives of the master's course to include advanced vocational education, defining the standard period of the doctor's course (five years as a rule and a minimum of three years) specifying the date of students' completion of their theses for a doctor's degree in consideration of the gap in their individual ability, reducing the number of required credits for students in the doctor's course (from 50 credits to 30), so as to alleviate their burden under the credit system, allowing students to take a number of courses or receive research instruction at other graduate schools, and so on.

. Increasing Flexibility of Curriculum in Junior Colleges

The Junior College Standards were enacted as a statute in 1975, with a view to enabling junior colleges to develop as unique institutions of higher education while meeting various social demands. Under the terms of the Standards, such steps for increasing flexibility in the curriculum were taken, as allowing junior colleges to handle classification of subjects flexibly and institute integrated subjects, just as universities are allowed to, and authorizing them to institute a considerable number of so-called freely disposable credits, so as to devise their own original curriculum and enable them to display the uniqueness.