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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > FY2003 White Paper on Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology >Part1 Introduction2 (2)

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Part 1   Higher Education to Support a Knowledge-Based Society Full of Creative Vitality - New Developments in Higher Education Reform
Introduction   Higher Education to Support a Knowledge-Based Society
2   Role of Higher Education in a Knowledge-Based Society and the Necessity for Reform
(2)   New developments in higher education reforms


Given such an environment, the expectations placed upon institutions of higher education, including universities, are rapidly increasing. Although various university reforms have been undertaken to date, these institutions still face serious issues. Universities face strong criticisms, including those to the effect that education content and reform methods do not reflect changes in the student population and that the quality of education is falling, that community cooperation in education and research aspects is insufficient and that various regulations and customs prevent flexible decision making, thus making it impossible to respond to social changes.

In response to these criticisms, while it is important to undertake specific reform measures, the creation of an increasingly competitive environment is also necessary to promote reforms. It is vital that institutions of higher education in a knowledge-based society are linked closely to society and that their position is further promoted through vigorous interactions. In addition, it is necessary for each institution of higher education to have autonomy, under which it can flexibly implement decision making and put decisions into practice. At the same time, reliable evaluations of institutions of higher education should be made, and this information needs to be provided not only to the institutions subject to the evaluation but also to the wider public.

As explained in detail in Chapter 2, national universities from FY2004 have been incorporated and a wide-ranging revision of the school corporation system is being considered. These reforms are designed to enhance university autonomy and to reform the decision-making process that supports such autonomy, in addition to promoting transparency. Furthermore, a certificated evaluation system will be launched simultaneously, whereby all institutions of higher education will be subject to evaluation by publicly certified evaluation institutions, and the results of the evaluation will be made public. In FY2003, a professional graduate school system was introduced. This system newly establishes graduate schools with the aim of cultivating human resources that can be employed in advanced, professional jobs in every sector of society. As part of this system, a graduate law school system will be established from FY2004. By establishing professional graduate schools, it is expected that the resulting enhanced cooperation between universities and the community will have a significant impact on the reform of universities as a whole.


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