Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN EDUCATION,SCIENCE AND CULTURE1991 > PART Chapter6 2

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

In the fiscal year of 1990, the total sum of research expenditures for universities, independent institutes and private companies in Japan amounted to 13.783 trillion yen. Out of this total, 7.6% or 2.2970 trillion yen was spent by universities and other institutes of higher education.

Comparing university research expenditures among Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, Japan is surpassed only by the United States. However, as to the percentage share of public funding in the total research expenditures, Japan lags behind all of these countries.

As for grants-in-aid for scientific research which are designed to further enhance the nation's outstanding academic and scientific research in all fields ranging from the humanities and social sciences to natural science (64.6 billion yen for FY 1992), because these grants have made significant contributions to the development of scientific research as primary sources of funds for the promotion of science, the Ministry is striving for their further expansion.

Furthermore, along with the development of scientific research, the necessity for highly effective research equipment has further increased. In order to enrich research facilities at universities and other institutes of higher education, as of 1992 the Ministry is endeavoring to increase the amount of funding especially for advanced research equipment.