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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPAMESE GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN EDUCATION,SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1990 > PART1 Chapter3 2 3

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PART 1 Issues and Perspectives ofHigher Education
Chapter 3 Direction of Higher Education Reform
2 Enhancement of Higher Education
3 Strengthening the Educational Functions of the University


In enhancing higher education, it is important for universities to strive to strengthen their educational functions.

There has been a criticism that universities in Japan are carrying out their educational functions rather inadequately as compared with those in many other countries. Universities need to listen to this criticism seriously. The quantitative expansion of universities might inevitably bring about a greater difference among individual universities in their qualitative aspects. However, it cannot be denied that Japanese universities have placed excessive emphasis on their research activities and have not devoted sufficient attention to developing a systematic approach towards the teaching of students.

In the coming years, it will be necessary for each university to develop a systematic instruction based on the curriculum, which is the outcome of careful consideration, by the university as a whole. Instruction should not be left to the discretion of individual teachers.

In developing a systematic university education, emphasis should be placed on the development of students' competence to adapt themselves adequately to changes in a fluid and complex society, as well as to new developments in the sciences. From this point of view, it is important for universities to organize a curriculum in which emphasis is placed on the development of students' thinking power and judgment, the cultivation of broad general culture and the acquisition of basic knowledge in respective disciplines. It is also crucial to cultivate in students information processing ability, foreign language abilities, the ability to express oneself, and other abilities needed in pursuing scientific learning. In addition, universities need to give careful consideration to the education of adult students and foreign students, both of whom are expected to be further increasing in the future.

Some universities have already been making efforts in working out elaborate curricula, in providing adequate guidance services, and in publishing detailed syllabi for instruction, with a view to carrying out a well-organized and systematic education aimed at the elevation of students' motivation for Beaming and at enabling students to assimilate what has been taught. It is strongly hoped that more universities will make similar efforts. An appropriate evaluation of students' academic achievements is also important.

Many universities in Europe and the United States have been carrying out faculty development programs aimed at the improvement of the teaching competence of faculty members, as well as at the betterment of the curriculum. It is important for Japanese universities and research organizations to strive to follow these examples overseas.


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