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As building universities of radiant individuality, strengthening international competitiveness and improving general education is called for, the important issues are the improvement of the quality of education in universities and the training of human resources that can take an active role in the international arena. For that reason, it is necessary for each university to promote further reform efforts with respect to education.

MEXT has been implementing the Distinctive University Education Support Program (Good Practice [GP]) since FY2003, based on the indications of the necessity to diversify universities, and the necessity of incentives for universities placing priority on educational aspects, coming from all parties concerned, such as various councils related to higher education ( Figure 1-2-16 ).

Distinctive University Education Support Program (Good Practice [GP]), through national, public and private universities, select and support distinctive and outstanding projects to contribute to the improvement of university education, and widely provide information to society by publishing collections of case studies, holding forums and so on.

This program aims to provide incentives for universities and educators to make education reform efforts, to be a reference for other university efforts, and promote the revitalization of higher education.

Figure 1-2-16 Distinctive University Education Support Program (Good Practice [GP])

Among efforts concerning student education, distinctive efforts that are organized and in line with the education aims of universities or junior colleges, which have been continuously implemented until the present and have produced results (including joint efforts carried out by multiple universities or junior colleges), are the targets of the program. Even if they are not particularly original, sincere education efforts continuously carried out and producing steady results are also targets of this program.

The Distinctive University Education Support Program (Good Practice [GP]) Implementation Committee has presented five themes for contributing to the improvement of university education when accepting applications for distinctive and outstanding efforts (Table 1-2-3). Table 1-2-3 Themes and Efforts in the Distinctive University Education Support Program (Good Practice [GP])

Applications are limited to one per university or junior college each fiscal year. At the time of application, the university or junior college selects the theme they would like to have selected. However, for efforts jointly carried out by multiple universities or junior colleges, it is possible to submit separate applications, and it is possible for universities and junior colleges to establish their own themes outside the five themes determined by the committee for their application.

It is planned to receive applications for this program with a five-year plan, and for the composition of themes to be the same for FY2004 and later years as it was for FY2003, but if necessary this may be reviewed.

Table 1-2-3 Themes and Efforts in the Distinctive University Education Support Program (Good Practice [GP])

When selecting distinctive and outstanding efforts, screening is carried out in the Distinctive University Education Support Program (Good Practice [GP]) Implementation Committee (Chairman Masakichi Kinukawa, President of International Christian University). The committee is managed in cooperation with related organizations centered on the Japanese University Accreditation Association, outside MEXT, and is composed of people involved in national, public and private universities and junior colleges, specialists and other experts. In order to ensure fairness and transparency, the names of the members of the committee and the screening criteria and so on are actively disclosed to the public.

The selected efforts are organized into collections of case studies and some of them are presented as examples at forums held at a number of locations throughout Japan to widely provide information to society.

In FY2003, the first year of implementation of the program, 664 applications were received and 80 were selected.

In relation to the selection of this program, with a view to supporting the education improvement efforts in universities and junior colleges, the selected efforts reflect the selection results within the range of the distribution framework of already existing expenses, and, as related support expenses, financial support is provided centered on the budget allocation (1.3 billion yen) for this program while utilizing other expenses as well.