PART Recent Trends and Developments in Government Policies in Education, Science and Culture
Chapter 4 Improvement and Enrichment of Higher Education
2 Promotion of the Reform of Higher Education
(1) Diversified Development in Higher Education
In order for Japan's higher education to adequately cope with
a rapidly changing society and diverse demands from the public, the nation's
institutions of higher education should demonstrate their own distinctive characteristics,
and develop freely and in diverse ways according to their respective founding
principles and goals. Standards for the framework of Japanese higher education
should be as flexible as possible to allow universities to demonstrate their
innovative and creative measures and develop in their own unique ways.
Based on the aforementioned viewpoints which were highlighted
in the report of the University Council, the Ministry carried out a thorough
revision of the Standards for the Establishment of Universities and other regulations
in June of 1991. In addition to making standards simpler and more flexible, standards
were fixed requiring institutions of higher education to conduct self-evaluations
of their own respective educational and research activities. At present all institutions
are actively conducting investigations into how research and education should
be carried out and continuing efforts towards compiling reports etc., regarding
their own self-monitoring and self evaluation regulations and the condition of
their respective research and educational programs.