This is an expanded version of an article that was previously published here at the JHEO.
The new version appears at MRZINE online. Here is an excerpt. The rest can be read at the MRZINE site.
End of Japan's National Development State for Higher Education
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
Japan's vast higher education system has around 5,000 institutions. This includes a tertiary level of about 1,300 government-approved, degree-awarding colleges and universities. Seven hundred forty-five of these are designated as 'daigaku,' a term which refers to any institution that has received government sanction to award four-year degrees equivalent to a baccalaureate. These four-year universities along with junior and technical colleges enroll close to three million undergraduate students, including about 120,000 foreign nationals, the vast majority of whom are from China.
Rest of the article is at MRZINE online:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/jannuzi200208.html