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Chapter 3 - The Heisei Period: Plus Ça Change?
- Edited by Paul Snowden
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- Book:
- Handbook of Higher Education in Japan
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 31 May 2023
- Print publication:
- 20 September 2021, pp 32-46
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- Chapter
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Summary
The Heisei period was one-third shorter than the formative Meiji period, and only half the length of the immediately preceding Showa period. Covering three decades without Japanese involvement in international armed conflict, and in political and economic terms witnessing few major internal upheavals, it may be seen as an easier period to categorize. Natural disasters may be what characterize Japan in the early 21st century: volcanic eruptions, floods and landslides recurred, while in particular the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011 (Heisei 23) led to the loss of around 20,000 lives and one nuclear power plant undergoing a meltdown whose after-effects will remain for decades to come. At the time of writing, virtually all university students were born in the Heisei period—indeed in the early years of the 21st century. Thus, this chapter describes what is current experience for the current population of Japan.
Dramatic demographic changes
A comparison of some of the vital statistics of Japanese HE in the first year and last full year of Heisei gives a sense of the dramatic demographic changes which color this period. In 1989 the population of 18-year-olds (the standard age of entrance to HE in Japan) was around 2 million; in 2018 it was less than 1.2 million. In 1989 fewer than 50% of secondary school graduates went on to HE; in 2018 more than 80% did. In 1989 there were 500 universities and 590 junior colleges in Japan; in 2018 these figures had risen and fallen respectively to 780 and 330. One does not need to look far beyond these statistics to identify a number of major structural reforms which were also implemented during Heisei, such as the incorporation of national and municipal HE institutions, the creation of new categories such as professional graduate schools and corporate universities, and the establishment of a mandatory third-party evaluation regime. These changes provide the entry point for this chapter’s analysis of HE in the Heisei period. Ultimately, the chapter advances the idea of Heisei as a period of frustrated reform, in which the changes that did eventuate fell far short of, or deviated considerably from, the kinds of fundamental transformations anticipated in late Showa.
Chapter 6 - Private Universities: Diverse and Adaptable
- Edited by Paul Snowden
-
- Book:
- Handbook of Higher Education in Japan
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 31 May 2023
- Print publication:
- 20 September 2021, pp 78-89
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Summary
This chapter is not an exercise in advocacy on behalf of the private university sector. It does, however, adopt a position sympathetic to the sector’s predicament on the basis that private universities have not, on the whole, featured heavily in analyses of Japanese higher education for international Anglophone audiences. The chapter has two main concerns. The first is to explain the different senses in which private universities are indeed “private.” It looks at the origins of these universities, their legal status and their relationship with public authorities, while seeking account for these attributes by reference to some key historical developments. The second aim is to describe the functions of private universities in the contemporary Japanese higher education system.
Introduction
Appearing on the website of the Japan Association for Private Universities and Colleges, the statement below is more than just an idealistic self-affirmation.
A common element among private universities and colleges is that each one of them was established by a founder with big dreams and high aspirations, an individual who was passionate to build an institution of higher education grounded on his or her own philosophy. These founding principles have been inherited by these institutions and continue to live on. The source of their potential lies in their uniqueness and diversity. Even with the circumstances surrounding private universities and colleges changing dramatically in recent years, their resolution remains firm. By proactively carrying out reforms and taking steps to enhance autonomy, private universities and colleges can adapt and will continue to produce diverse individuals capable of making significant contributions to human society.
For one, it effectively encapsulates several of the key features of private universities: they were founded by autonomous, non-government actors, each with their own distinct motivations; as a product of these diverse origins there is great variety in institutional missions and academic activities within the private university sector; a number of changes in contemporary society are posing new challenges and opportunities for the sector. Statements such as these are also exercises in advocacy. At a general level, they are designed to offset the popular assumption (not unique to higher education, nor indeed to Japan) that private institutions are of lesser quality and legitimacy than their public cousins—a notion expressed in Japanese as kankō shitei or “public high, private low.”
Chapter 2 - From Showa to Heisei: The Formation of Japan’s Contemporary Higher Education System
- Edited by Paul Snowden
-
- Book:
- Handbook of Higher Education in Japan
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 31 May 2023
- Print publication:
- 20 September 2021, pp 13-31
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Summary
Showa,” referring to the reign of Emperor Hirohito from December 25, 1926, to January 7, 1989, is a useful metaphor for change and continuity in 20th-century Japanese society, but deeply impractical for the purpose of historical periodization. In the course of the Showa period Japan went from fledgling liberal democracy to authoritarian, militarist state, from the devastation of defeat and occupation to the exhilarating, but equally disillusioning, experience of recovery and rapid growth, and on through to the heady years of the bubble economy. The immense macro-level changes of the Showa period are reflected in the development of Japanese social institutions, making simple, linear narratives difficult to construct in any area.
Early Showa
In the case of higher education, if it is possible to characterize the entirety of Showa in any way at all, it would be to say that this was the period in which virtually all the distinguishing features of Japan’s contemporary system took shape.
This chapter elaborates on this simple idea that Showa as a whole, and notwithstanding the vast transformations which punctuated it, was the key formative period for Japanese HE. Let us begin the elaboration with a brief review of the features of Japanese education generally at the start of the Showa period: (almost) universal primary schooling; institutional heterogeneity at the post-primary level; significant regional and gender disparities in access to higher educational opportunities; a growing degree of administrative centralization and state control; increasing importance of advanced credentials for access to highly-skilled occupations. In the first year of Showa, 1926, Japan already had 34 fully-fledged universities (35 counting the one established in colonial Korea in 1924), almost 30 higher schools (kōtō gakkō), which provided the main pathway to university entrance, and well over 100 professional and advanced vocational colleges (senmon gakkō and jitsugyō senmon gakkō), some of which already called themselves “universities” (daigaku) and were working, despite onerous requirements, to gain formal recognition under the University Ordinance (daigakurei) of 1918. The HE sector was also growing rapidly in size: the number of students in HE increased almost threefold in the 1920s, and by another 40 percent in the 1930s (see Table 2.1). The sector also became more privatized: by 1940 well over 60 percent of all HE students were attending private institutions.