JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1994[PART II Chapter 4 Section 3 4]

The rapid pace of technological innovation in recent years has created a strong need for the encouragement of creative advanced education and research in high-tech fields, such as information technology, biotechnology, and materials. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture plans to give special priority to the role of graduate schools in future efforts to develop human resources in these areas.

National universities play an especially important role in regard to graduate schools of science and engineering. In fiscal 1994, 2 new graduate departments were established at 2 universities and 20 new majors were set up at 14 universities.

Statistics concerning graduate education in science and engineering indicate that while the number of students entering master's degree courses has remained above entrance target levels, the number of students entering doctorate courses has consistently fallen short of entrance targets. There has been a steady rise in the percentage of places filled in recent years, however, especially at national universities. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture will continue to work toward overall improvement of universities' educational and research environment and toward improvement of conditions for graduate students. It is also hoped that companies and other organizations will improve the conditions that they offer recruits who have completed doctorate course requirements.

The simplifying and broadening of the Standards for the Establishment of Universities in 1991 has brought about a number of improvements in university science and engineering education. Changes include the structuring of programs to provide interactive links between general and specialized education and the establishment of comprehensive interdisciplinary subjects designed to foster comprehensive judgment and perception.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is also establishing or restructuring faculties and departments in national universities as part of its efforts to improve educational and research systems to keep pace with the increasingly sophisticated level of science and technology and the trend toward interdisciplinary research. In fiscal 1994 the Ministry established a faculty of environmental science and technology at Okayama University and established or restructured departments in the engineering faculties of seven other national universities. The Ministry will continue to monitor fields in which there are serious shortages of personnel and ensure that human-resource development is targeted primarily toward those areas in order to meet society's needs more fully.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture established the Consultative Committee to Improve the Attractiveness of Science and Engineering Departments in February 1994, with the aim of enhancing the attractiveness of university-level science and engineering education and research and stimulating interest in science and engineering among young people and the general public. In July the committee submitted a report on its deliberations. Following are the major points of the report.

1. To make university-level science and engineering more attractive, it is necessary to systematize educational content and methods from the undergraduate to the graduate level and to instill and nurture the joy of discovery and creation. It is also necessary to create a research environment, including facilities and equipment, that is conducive to intellectual dynamism; to improve student aid programs and other forms of financial assistance so that graduate students can concentrate on their studies; to focus on the improvement of campus amenities ;^* and to improve entrant selection procedures so that students are selected on the basis of their love of science rather than on the basis of academic ability alone.
2. Universities and university personnel must inform the public more fully about the attractiveness of science and engineering and make universities more open to community involvement.
3. Universities and industry should cooperate more closely in such areas as human-resource development, and companies should provide better conditions for science and engineering graduates. In its June 1994 report the Subcommittee on Scientific and Technological Personnel of the Council for Science and Technology, an advisory organ to the Prime Minister, also highlighted the importance of further improvements in science and engineering education at the undergraduate level.

^* Campus amenities need to be taken into account in university management. Campus amenities include the provision of spacious and culturally and artistically enriching university facilities and the development of facilities that are pleasant for a diverse student population, including women, students from abroad, and adult students.


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