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PART Recent Trends and Developments in Government Policies in Education, Science and Culture

The total sum of research expenditures spent in universities, research institutes, industrial enterprises and other organizations in Japan amounted to 10,627,600 million yen in 1988. Of this total, 2,014,100 million yen or 19.0 % was spent in universities or other institutions of higher education.

An analysis of the research expenditures spent in the field of natural science indicates that expenditures for basic research represented 52.8% of all research expenditures spent in universities and other institutions of higher education, while expenditures for developmental research accounted for 59.7% of all research expenditures incurred by research institutes and 71.7% of those incurred by industrial enterprises. The Ministry every year provides a large number of grants-in-aid to researchers for their scientific research projects, with the aim of developing high-quality research projects in all fields from the humanities to the natural science. Recognizing that these grants-in-aid constitute key expenditures contributing to the progress of scientific research, the Ministry has been endeavoring to increase the number and amounts of these grants.

Further, along with the progress of scientific research, there are growing needs for advanced research equipment. In 1990, with a view to reinforcing research equipment at national universities and other institutions of higher education, the Ministry created two new items of expenditure in the budget: one for the purchase of basic equipment useful for the improvement of research standards, and the other for the purchase of large-sized research equipment useful for pilot scientific research projects.