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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE, SPORTS AND CULTURE 1995 > University Reform in Other Countries 1

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University Reform in Other Countries
1. United States of America


Institutions of higher education in the United States can be categorized broadly into universities and junior and community colleges. Universities are further divided into integrated universities, which emphasize research and graduate education; liberal arts colleges, which emphasize general education; and professional schools, which provide specialized and professional education in such fields as medicine and law.

Higher education in the United States expanded rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s. At the same time, predictions of a population decline in the age group targeted for higher education led to efforts to improve the quality of higher education through faculty development, partly as a means of attracting sufficient numbers of students. Since the late 1970s there has been an increase in the number of nontraditional students, such as adults, women, and minorities. The diversification of curricula, including the introduction of internship and cooperative programs under which students undertake work experience in companies as well as academic course work, and the diversification of study formats, such as the expansion of part-time study systems, are among the resulting changes. Today the student population is well over 10 million, and it is reported that the expansionary trend has peaked as higher education enters the " post-popularization " era.

Current major issues include the funding of the heavy cost of higher education and the maintenance and improvement of the quality of extremely diversified higher education. Meeting these challenges calls for the achievement of university accountability and the promotion of financial self-help efforts.


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