Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > Japanese Government Policies in Education, Science, Sports and Culture 2000 > Trends in Educational Reform Section 2 Q13 Developments to Date

The establishment of an IAI system through outsourcing of administrative functions, increased work efficiency and other measures was put forward in the final report of the Administrative Reform Council announced in November 1997. IAIs are organizations made independent from the central government in order to carry out their work more flexibly and provide higher quality administrative services.

Regarding making national universities into IAIs, the Cabinet decision of April 1999 stated that, among the many national government duties and businesses to be handled by IAIs under administrative reform, "this shall be considered as part of university reform, while respecting the independence of universities, and shall be decided by 2003."

In the October 1998 University Council Report: A Vision for the University of the 21^st Century and Future Reform Measures, the basic philosophy of future university reform was advanced, including the following points:

In response to these developments, from 1999, MESSC and representatives of national universities and learned persons from various fields exchanged views. At the Informal Meeting for Presidents of National Universities and Heads of Interuniversity Research Institutes, the Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture stated the intention to promptly begin deliberations regarding the contents of a system, including the handling of legal measures and operational aspects, toward making national universities into IAIs under an IAI system, while taking into consideration the unique characteristics of universities.