A Nature article reports that the research institutes in Japan were in the 'hot seat' of government oversight and being asked to justify their huge costs. Now that the former finance minister has become the new prime minister, the pressure on these hugely expensive institutions will most likely increase. This is especially problematic for the fledgling Okinawa Institue of Science and Technology (OIST), which isn't yet a a fully functioning institution. When it was first conceived a decade ago it was probably seen as an effective way to finish off regional development because Okinawa is considered an economically backward part of Japan (regardless of what Okinawans think).
The national government had wanted to make the OIST a showpiece for its efforts to develop Okinawa beyond tourism and military installations; however, the location of OIST is too remote for an international research institute (adding to its costs for bringing researchers to Okinawa and subsidizing them to travel overseas from such a remote place). Okinawa and its people would have been much better served with institutes aimed at integrating Okinawa with its historical economic partners (Taiwan, S. Korea, and China) and providing more educational and training opportunities for the youth of that entire region. Moreover, Okinawa's future is being frustrated by the continued obtrusive presence of the American military, which is actually expanding its activities under the guise of reform.
See the article at the link below for its entirety.
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100428/full/news.2010.204.html
Japan's research institutions in the hot seat
Government oversight committee urges scientists to make savings.
excerpt 1:
In four days of hearings that began on 23 April, some of Japan's most prominent research institutions and funding agencies came under fire from government-appointed budget watchdogs. But the harsh words and suggested cuts were aimed mostly at administrative operations....
In the first round of hearings last November, the major cuts recommended at facilities such as the SPring-8 synchrotron in Harima and a planned supercomputer caused a storm of protest among researchers, but the budgets that incorporated the recommendations, which went into effect on 1 April, reflected only modest decreases.
excerpt 2:
The audits started last Friday, with geneticist Sydney Brenner stroking his beard as he sat opposite Renho, the parliamentary representative of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, who is known by her first name only. With her sharp haircut and pointed comments, she has become the symbol of the working groups.
Through an interpreter, Brenner described his vision for the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), of which he is president. He spoke only a few sentences before being cut off. Renho said: "We all agree that science and technology is a fantastic thing. But we are here to discuss whether taxpayer's money is being wisely spent, for example, with regard to your board of governors."
The OIST's board of governors is composed of ten scientists, including five Nobel laureates. They receive an annual US$10,000 honorarium: $5,000 for each of the biannual meetings they attend (to which they fly first class). Overall, the OIST spends between \30 million to \36 million (US$320,000?$384,000) per year to get feedback from these luminaries. The working groups called for a reduction in the costs and a "strengthening of governance".
end of excerpts
Showing posts with label OIST. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OIST. Show all posts
14 June 2010
19 February 2010
Japan Higher Education Outlook Looks Back
Japan Higher Education Outlook has been in existence for over two years now. So it might be a good time to look back on some of the original content.
Here is a list of key feature articles that appeared here. These are articles that are for the most part exclusive of the ones that appeared under the 'TEFL Forum' title series.
But first, here are a few comments on some of the news and trends analyzed in the past two years of articles:
-Instead of getting more universities into the world's top 30, Japan's one top 20 university, Tokyo U., dropped out of the top 20.
-The new research university being founded in Okinawa has faltered, hitting budget limitations due to the ongoing fiscal crisis of the national government.
-The often-predicted demographic disaster awaiting Japan's large HE sector still awaits--offset by the fact that more and more young women are continuing onto four-year programs and graduate school.
-Meanwhile, the lines drawn across terms like 'university', 'college' and 'special training school/college' are being blurred: Two-year colleges have got into vocational programs and four-year programs in order to stay in business. It also seems that 'special training colleges' will hook up with universities and colleges because they need students, but their administrations have something the universities need as well: management skills in running vocationally relevant programs that lead to graduates getting certifications, qualifications, careers.
-And while the continuance rate from senior high to universities and colleges hasn't hit 60%, it is rising and for many students there are more and more ways to get into the programs of their choice (most students choose 2 or 3 institutions to apply for).
-And the top-rated universities like Toudai have more applicants than ever because many are hopeful that the demographic decline favors their chances to win the placement lottery. .
Links and introductory excerpts have been dug out from the archives for your convenience.
Original feature articles at JHEO:
1. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2009/12/profile-of-japans-top-university-u-of.html
16 December 2009
Profile of Japan's top university--U. of Tokyo (Toudai)
Recently Toudai dropped out of the THES-QS top 20 ranking of universities worldwide. I thought this would be a good time to run an alternative version of an earlier piece on the University of Tokyo.
---------------------------
Is University of Tokyo Japan's only world-class university?
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
It is unique and elite
When the university system of Japan is compared internationally, one institution is most often cited as Japan's best example of a 'world-class' university. This is, of course, the University of Tokyo (Toukyou Daigaku' or 'Toudai' for short). Toudai is perhaps most famous for graduating and networking elite bureaucrats and politicians, including prime ministers; however, the supposed lock on leadership in top government has waned over the past two decades. For example, this century's most popular prime minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, and many of his advisors were graduates of the private elite Keio University.
2. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2009/04/end-of-japans-national-development-and.html
10 April 2009
The End of Japan's National Development State for Higher Education
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
Introduction
Japan's vast higher education system has around 5,000 institutions, with the count still growing. This includes a tertiary level of about 1,300 government-certified, 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.
3. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/10/demographic-disaster-for-higher-ed-in.html
27 October 2008
Demographic Disaster for Higher Ed in Japan? Parts II-III
by Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui
Introduction
In early September 2006, I gave a presentation at a conference in Langkawi, Malaysia. The conference, which focused mostly on educational management issues in higher education, was hosted by the South East Asian Association for Institutional Research (SEAAIR) and the Open University of Malaysia. My talk was titled, "Japan's Tertiary Education System: Developments in the Koizumi Era of Reform".
In the resulting paper (which was published in the proceedings of the conference), I attempted to sum up twenty years of university reform with the following:
Those two prior decades of changes in tertiary education leading
up to the creation of the NUCs [Japan's 87 national universities
were re-chartered as 'national university corporations' in 2003-4]
comprised many profound developments....:
-the establishment of a handful of new research universities and
institutes, decision-making at which flows from a central
administration....
-the expansion of graduate program and their enrollments,
including American-style professional schools of business,
law, and accounting;
-growth in doctoral and post-doctoral programs....
-a steady increase in the number of international students
hosted, to over 120,000 annually, about 25% enrolled in
graduate schools;
-more public funding of the entire tertiary sector...with a
target of 1% of GDP;
-increased funding for research (including more basic
research) to compensate for its decline in private industry...
with a target of 7-8% of annual national budgets, and a
national goal approaching 3% of GDP for ALL scientific R&D
(with national government spending accounting for 1% of GDP);
-legislative and regulatory changes that allowed the national
universities to tie up with other entities to pursue research and
expand course offerings....
-parallel changes that allowed national university academics
to serve on the boards of NPOs and for-profit corporations;
-internal and external systems of evaluation, independent of
national government certification....
4. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/04/japans-tertiary-education-system.html
18 April 2008
Japan's Tertiary Education System: Developments in the Koizumi Era of Reform
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
With this first JPN HEO blog post of April 2008, I am using this forum to publish an article that was delivered as a paper at the SEAAIR conference in Langkawi, Malaysia, in September 2006. It will serve as something of a retrospective on happenings in higher education during the Koizumi years of 2000-6 and the preceding years that set up the reforms of what now could be called a political era for Japan.
News posts on the demographic crisis and reasons for the failure of English education will follow in the remaining days of April.
Japan's Tertiary Education System: Developments in the Koizumi Era of Reform
by Charles Jannuzi
Abstract
This paper will survey the major developments and changes that have taken place during the past decade in Japan's tertiary education system and put them into international (comparative) and historical perspectives. It also will attempt to assess critically the impact of major reforms on the national and public universities (and the response of the more numerous private universities to these reforms as well). For example, as of 1 April 2004, Japan's 87 national universities were 'denationalized' and incorporated into 'autonomous institutions'(or 'juridical persons') giving them, at least in theory, wider discretionary powers over personnel management, teaching and research assignments, program and curriculum development. The new status was supposed to result in more local autonomy within each institution over the allocation of money for their mandated missions in teaching, conveying public services to their regions, and conducting basic and applied research in science and technology. Have such top-down reforms proven effective, and have their effects matched the government's stated intentions? It is the author's contention that, not only are the reforms a classic case of reform over-reach, but that Japan's overbuilt university system will face demographic, financial and socio-cultural crises that the current Koizumi era of reform, now coming to its close, has utterly failed to address.
5. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/03/teaching-as-foreign-national-at.html
10 March 2008
Teaching as a Foreign National at Japanese Universities: Shifting Terms of Institutional Status, Employment, Work Conditions and Related Concerns
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
Introduction
The Japanese tertiary system consists of some 1250 national, public, and private four- and two-year institutions. At these degree-awarding universities and colleges, the terms 'foreign lecturer' or 'foreign instructor' refer to any non-Japanese personnel teaching below the status of professor. Most typically though the terms refer to full-time foreign language teachers who are 'native speakers' of the language they teach.
The vast majority of these foreign nationals teach English as a foreign language (EFL), but the number teaching other important languages, especially Asian ones, such as Mandarin Chinese, has also risen significantly during the past two decades. The non-Japanese teaching EFL in Japan are often assigned general English classes as part or all of their teaching duties. General English refers to service course English required as part of general education requirements of tertiary education.
6. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/03/from-university-research-centers-to.html
02 March 2008
From university research centers to international research hubs?
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
In the post-bubble Japan of the 1990s, the private sector's ability to finance scientific research and development went into stagnation and then decline. So from 1995 on the government has pursued an expanded role in the management and funding of scientific R&D at annual levels that equal or exceed 1% of GDP. In great part this has been through the dominant role of its super-ministry, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and its five-year 'Science and Technology Basic Plans'.
In order to increase public subsidy of scientific research-- while at the same time forcing research universities and research institutes to compete for funds--MEXT established a 'Centers of Excellence' program. However, this turned out to be a fairly diffuse program, paying for the construction of dozens of new research facilities all over the country at the former national universities and a handful of elite private ones. While this did a lot to help refurbish the appearance of the visibly deteriorated national universities, its actual boost to important scientific results is questionable.
7. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/02/demographic-disaster-for-higher-ed-in.html
10 February 2008
Demographic Disaster for Higher Education in Japan? Part I
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
This will be a three-part series for the Japan HEO Blog. This first installment will be a short introduction of the series and then follow with an analysis of Anglophone news coverage of Japan. This is, after all, an English-language blog on Japan.
Part two will consist of analysis of recent articles which appeared in the FT, New York Times, Guardian and Kyodo News Service which have covered the 'demographic disaster' that is supposed to be looming over higher education in Japan. Going straight to the strong points of the argument for a disaster scenario for HE in Japan, I will try to point out some of the flaws and gaps in the analysis.
The third and final part, which will most likely appear late in March 2008 (when the single correspondent of the Japan HEO Blog doesn't have to teach classes), I will put forth a different analysis in an attempt to answer the puzzling question, "Why, if high school graduate and university-eligible populations are in steady and unrecoverable decline, is Japan building still yet more universities?" Does someone in the HE sector here know something that everyone else doesn't? Or are they delusional?
8. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/02/extended-look-at-academic-freedom-in-he.html
03 February 2008
Academic freedom in Japan's higher education--a more in-depth look
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
Many attempts at analyzing the nature of government in post-war Japan tend to emphasize continuity with 'old' Japan and its conservative nationalism. However, such analysis does not insightfully refer to tendencies that are ancient or even old by historical standards. Instead, any connection with past rule has to be made with early modern Japan, from the start of the Meiji era (1868) to the start of the second world war.
Sweeping political, social and cultural changes in the last half of the 19th century opened up Japan to outside ideas, knowledge and technology. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 was actually a political revolution which swept away most elements of the old shogunate government and its prestige culture. New factions of elites capable of leadership and rule emerged during a time of great social unrest and change.
9. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/02/pork-barrel-boondoggle-in-ryukyu.html
03 February 2008
The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology: Pork barrel boondoggle in the Ryukyu Islands?
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
In December 2006, the Japanese government (at the ministry level) decided to put the construction and certification of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) on a privileged fast track. The OIST was conceived in the 1990s and put forward as an official proposal in June 2002 to help mark the 30th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa from US control to become the 48th prefecture of Japan. Its proponents within the national government and in Okinawa had hoped that the proposed institute would open for teaching and research by September 2006--or earlier. That target has long been been missed, and efforts to speed up the process have been clouded by serious oversight issues involving the specification of research program, taught curriculum, and codes and regulations. Construction of the campus, currently in progress, could also cause considerable environmental destruction because of its location in what is now a communal forest near the coast.
10. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/02/japan-aims-for-world-class-universities.html
03 February 2008
Japan aims for 'world class' universities
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
The government of Japan is pushing for a consolidation and revitalization of the university system, formulating specific targets. Of the hundreds of universities here, 30 are supposed to emerge competitively as truly 'world-class' institutions. From amongst this group of 30, a very select group of five are supposed to attain a top 30 global ranking. And at the top of this super group of five, one of these must make it into the global top 10.
Here is a list of key feature articles that appeared here. These are articles that are for the most part exclusive of the ones that appeared under the 'TEFL Forum' title series.
But first, here are a few comments on some of the news and trends analyzed in the past two years of articles:
-Instead of getting more universities into the world's top 30, Japan's one top 20 university, Tokyo U., dropped out of the top 20.
-The new research university being founded in Okinawa has faltered, hitting budget limitations due to the ongoing fiscal crisis of the national government.
-The often-predicted demographic disaster awaiting Japan's large HE sector still awaits--offset by the fact that more and more young women are continuing onto four-year programs and graduate school.
-Meanwhile, the lines drawn across terms like 'university', 'college' and 'special training school/college' are being blurred: Two-year colleges have got into vocational programs and four-year programs in order to stay in business. It also seems that 'special training colleges' will hook up with universities and colleges because they need students, but their administrations have something the universities need as well: management skills in running vocationally relevant programs that lead to graduates getting certifications, qualifications, careers.
-And while the continuance rate from senior high to universities and colleges hasn't hit 60%, it is rising and for many students there are more and more ways to get into the programs of their choice (most students choose 2 or 3 institutions to apply for).
-And the top-rated universities like Toudai have more applicants than ever because many are hopeful that the demographic decline favors their chances to win the placement lottery. .
Links and introductory excerpts have been dug out from the archives for your convenience.
Original feature articles at JHEO:
1. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2009/12/profile-of-japans-top-university-u-of.html
16 December 2009
Profile of Japan's top university--U. of Tokyo (Toudai)
Recently Toudai dropped out of the THES-QS top 20 ranking of universities worldwide. I thought this would be a good time to run an alternative version of an earlier piece on the University of Tokyo.
---------------------------
Is University of Tokyo Japan's only world-class university?
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
It is unique and elite
When the university system of Japan is compared internationally, one institution is most often cited as Japan's best example of a 'world-class' university. This is, of course, the University of Tokyo (Toukyou Daigaku' or 'Toudai' for short). Toudai is perhaps most famous for graduating and networking elite bureaucrats and politicians, including prime ministers; however, the supposed lock on leadership in top government has waned over the past two decades. For example, this century's most popular prime minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, and many of his advisors were graduates of the private elite Keio University.
2. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2009/04/end-of-japans-national-development-and.html
10 April 2009
The End of Japan's National Development State for Higher Education
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
Introduction
Japan's vast higher education system has around 5,000 institutions, with the count still growing. This includes a tertiary level of about 1,300 government-certified, 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.
3. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/10/demographic-disaster-for-higher-ed-in.html
27 October 2008
Demographic Disaster for Higher Ed in Japan? Parts II-III
by Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui
Introduction
In early September 2006, I gave a presentation at a conference in Langkawi, Malaysia. The conference, which focused mostly on educational management issues in higher education, was hosted by the South East Asian Association for Institutional Research (SEAAIR) and the Open University of Malaysia. My talk was titled, "Japan's Tertiary Education System: Developments in the Koizumi Era of Reform".
In the resulting paper (which was published in the proceedings of the conference), I attempted to sum up twenty years of university reform with the following:
Those two prior decades of changes in tertiary education leading
up to the creation of the NUCs [Japan's 87 national universities
were re-chartered as 'national university corporations' in 2003-4]
comprised many profound developments....:
-the establishment of a handful of new research universities and
institutes, decision-making at which flows from a central
administration....
-the expansion of graduate program and their enrollments,
including American-style professional schools of business,
law, and accounting;
-growth in doctoral and post-doctoral programs....
-a steady increase in the number of international students
hosted, to over 120,000 annually, about 25% enrolled in
graduate schools;
-more public funding of the entire tertiary sector...with a
target of 1% of GDP;
-increased funding for research (including more basic
research) to compensate for its decline in private industry...
with a target of 7-8% of annual national budgets, and a
national goal approaching 3% of GDP for ALL scientific R&D
(with national government spending accounting for 1% of GDP);
-legislative and regulatory changes that allowed the national
universities to tie up with other entities to pursue research and
expand course offerings....
-parallel changes that allowed national university academics
to serve on the boards of NPOs and for-profit corporations;
-internal and external systems of evaluation, independent of
national government certification....
4. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/04/japans-tertiary-education-system.html
18 April 2008
Japan's Tertiary Education System: Developments in the Koizumi Era of Reform
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
With this first JPN HEO blog post of April 2008, I am using this forum to publish an article that was delivered as a paper at the SEAAIR conference in Langkawi, Malaysia, in September 2006. It will serve as something of a retrospective on happenings in higher education during the Koizumi years of 2000-6 and the preceding years that set up the reforms of what now could be called a political era for Japan.
News posts on the demographic crisis and reasons for the failure of English education will follow in the remaining days of April.
Japan's Tertiary Education System: Developments in the Koizumi Era of Reform
by Charles Jannuzi
Abstract
This paper will survey the major developments and changes that have taken place during the past decade in Japan's tertiary education system and put them into international (comparative) and historical perspectives. It also will attempt to assess critically the impact of major reforms on the national and public universities (and the response of the more numerous private universities to these reforms as well). For example, as of 1 April 2004, Japan's 87 national universities were 'denationalized' and incorporated into 'autonomous institutions'(or 'juridical persons') giving them, at least in theory, wider discretionary powers over personnel management, teaching and research assignments, program and curriculum development. The new status was supposed to result in more local autonomy within each institution over the allocation of money for their mandated missions in teaching, conveying public services to their regions, and conducting basic and applied research in science and technology. Have such top-down reforms proven effective, and have their effects matched the government's stated intentions? It is the author's contention that, not only are the reforms a classic case of reform over-reach, but that Japan's overbuilt university system will face demographic, financial and socio-cultural crises that the current Koizumi era of reform, now coming to its close, has utterly failed to address.
5. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/03/teaching-as-foreign-national-at.html
10 March 2008
Teaching as a Foreign National at Japanese Universities: Shifting Terms of Institutional Status, Employment, Work Conditions and Related Concerns
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
Introduction
The Japanese tertiary system consists of some 1250 national, public, and private four- and two-year institutions. At these degree-awarding universities and colleges, the terms 'foreign lecturer' or 'foreign instructor' refer to any non-Japanese personnel teaching below the status of professor. Most typically though the terms refer to full-time foreign language teachers who are 'native speakers' of the language they teach.
The vast majority of these foreign nationals teach English as a foreign language (EFL), but the number teaching other important languages, especially Asian ones, such as Mandarin Chinese, has also risen significantly during the past two decades. The non-Japanese teaching EFL in Japan are often assigned general English classes as part or all of their teaching duties. General English refers to service course English required as part of general education requirements of tertiary education.
6. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/03/from-university-research-centers-to.html
02 March 2008
From university research centers to international research hubs?
Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan
In the post-bubble Japan of the 1990s, the private sector's ability to finance scientific research and development went into stagnation and then decline. So from 1995 on the government has pursued an expanded role in the management and funding of scientific R&D at annual levels that equal or exceed 1% of GDP. In great part this has been through the dominant role of its super-ministry, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and its five-year 'Science and Technology Basic Plans'.
In order to increase public subsidy of scientific research-- while at the same time forcing research universities and research institutes to compete for funds--MEXT established a 'Centers of Excellence' program. However, this turned out to be a fairly diffuse program, paying for the construction of dozens of new research facilities all over the country at the former national universities and a handful of elite private ones. While this did a lot to help refurbish the appearance of the visibly deteriorated national universities, its actual boost to important scientific results is questionable.
7. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/02/demographic-disaster-for-higher-ed-in.html
10 February 2008
Demographic Disaster for Higher Education in Japan? Part I
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
This will be a three-part series for the Japan HEO Blog. This first installment will be a short introduction of the series and then follow with an analysis of Anglophone news coverage of Japan. This is, after all, an English-language blog on Japan.
Part two will consist of analysis of recent articles which appeared in the FT, New York Times, Guardian and Kyodo News Service which have covered the 'demographic disaster' that is supposed to be looming over higher education in Japan. Going straight to the strong points of the argument for a disaster scenario for HE in Japan, I will try to point out some of the flaws and gaps in the analysis.
The third and final part, which will most likely appear late in March 2008 (when the single correspondent of the Japan HEO Blog doesn't have to teach classes), I will put forth a different analysis in an attempt to answer the puzzling question, "Why, if high school graduate and university-eligible populations are in steady and unrecoverable decline, is Japan building still yet more universities?" Does someone in the HE sector here know something that everyone else doesn't? Or are they delusional?
8. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/02/extended-look-at-academic-freedom-in-he.html
03 February 2008
Academic freedom in Japan's higher education--a more in-depth look
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
Many attempts at analyzing the nature of government in post-war Japan tend to emphasize continuity with 'old' Japan and its conservative nationalism. However, such analysis does not insightfully refer to tendencies that are ancient or even old by historical standards. Instead, any connection with past rule has to be made with early modern Japan, from the start of the Meiji era (1868) to the start of the second world war.
Sweeping political, social and cultural changes in the last half of the 19th century opened up Japan to outside ideas, knowledge and technology. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 was actually a political revolution which swept away most elements of the old shogunate government and its prestige culture. New factions of elites capable of leadership and rule emerged during a time of great social unrest and change.
9. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/02/pork-barrel-boondoggle-in-ryukyu.html
03 February 2008
The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology: Pork barrel boondoggle in the Ryukyu Islands?
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
In December 2006, the Japanese government (at the ministry level) decided to put the construction and certification of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) on a privileged fast track. The OIST was conceived in the 1990s and put forward as an official proposal in June 2002 to help mark the 30th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa from US control to become the 48th prefecture of Japan. Its proponents within the national government and in Okinawa had hoped that the proposed institute would open for teaching and research by September 2006--or earlier. That target has long been been missed, and efforts to speed up the process have been clouded by serious oversight issues involving the specification of research program, taught curriculum, and codes and regulations. Construction of the campus, currently in progress, could also cause considerable environmental destruction because of its location in what is now a communal forest near the coast.
10. http://japanheo.blogspot.com/2008/02/japan-aims-for-world-class-universities.html
03 February 2008
Japan aims for 'world class' universities
by Charles Jannuzi
Introduction
The government of Japan is pushing for a consolidation and revitalization of the university system, formulating specific targets. Of the hundreds of universities here, 30 are supposed to emerge competitively as truly 'world-class' institutions. From amongst this group of 30, a very select group of five are supposed to attain a top 30 global ranking. And at the top of this super group of five, one of these must make it into the global top 10.
05 May 2009
Okinawa Technological Graduate University Shooting for 2012 Start
A proposed 2012 start might mean that this too is a project that is floundering. It seems the Japanese government wants the new institution to bring in a lot of world class researchers with their own money. But if they had their own money, it seems doubtful that most world class researchers would want to move to a rural part of Okinawa Honto, even if it has great natural beauty. Also, the idea of getting businesses to establish themselves in the area before the university is actually up and running sounds dubious at best. Certainly Boston (see the article) is not the model to try and emulate. A better and more realistic model might be how the immediate areas around Japan's other 'universities of science and technology' were developed. The bad news is that those places still feel like the 'sticks' and what got built was done through generous government subsidies. It seems the government has lost that generosity. This project looks to be headed for a disaster, as does the proposed joint Malaysia-Japan university, as yet to be built at some location outside Kuala Lumpur.
As for the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, it's still not too late to re-consider. How about an All Asian College of Hotel and Restaurant Management and Tourism instead?
http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=8870
New graduate school feeling its way toward 2012 opening
Date Posted: 2008-08-15
A steering committee preparing for Okinawa Technological Graduate University’s opening in four years has its hands full, sorting through dozens of issues that include everything from funding to recruiting a world class staff and faculty.
The school is developing its operational framework, and just held a conference in Tokyo to get ideas on how best to merge the concepts of a private university with the necessity of drawing government funding. Some problems are anticipated, university leaders concede, but say the Okinawa Technical Graduate University will be the very best in Japan.
“We’re inviting the top people and excellent professors (to join our faculty and staff),” the steering committee says, “so we need to give them enough of a budget, and need to create rules that are very flexible and give them freedom for study.” The committee is working with the central government and with Okinawa Prefecture to obtain a satisfactory level of funding, and is developing corporate and university rules.
“We don’t give support for nothing,” the government is already cautioning the steering committee. “We are not going to support the university forever, and if the university becomes popular and draws students from all over the world, we need to make this university a private system, education leaders in Tokyo say. They are advising the new school to “study other business schools’ systems, and look to private companies who can invest money or donate money, or the school itself should make the students pay enough to cover the costs for having high grade professors.”
The central government has pledged it is “just helping at the beginning, until the school is on track for economical recovery. After that, the school will have to go by itself.” Education officials say the new school must plant seeds now, because “we need to see results after five years operations, and then look to the future. If nothing comes out, that’s the end of the money.”
The university is supposed to open in 2012. The steering committee is now wrestling with finding 30 professors with outstanding qualifications, and then getting the town surrounding the school set up to handle them. University officials say they new town must attract business-related industries and employees, modeling the community after successful American cities such as Boston.
As for the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, it's still not too late to re-consider. How about an All Asian College of Hotel and Restaurant Management and Tourism instead?
http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=8870
New graduate school feeling its way toward 2012 opening
Date Posted: 2008-08-15
A steering committee preparing for Okinawa Technological Graduate University’s opening in four years has its hands full, sorting through dozens of issues that include everything from funding to recruiting a world class staff and faculty.
The school is developing its operational framework, and just held a conference in Tokyo to get ideas on how best to merge the concepts of a private university with the necessity of drawing government funding. Some problems are anticipated, university leaders concede, but say the Okinawa Technical Graduate University will be the very best in Japan.
“We’re inviting the top people and excellent professors (to join our faculty and staff),” the steering committee says, “so we need to give them enough of a budget, and need to create rules that are very flexible and give them freedom for study.” The committee is working with the central government and with Okinawa Prefecture to obtain a satisfactory level of funding, and is developing corporate and university rules.
“We don’t give support for nothing,” the government is already cautioning the steering committee. “We are not going to support the university forever, and if the university becomes popular and draws students from all over the world, we need to make this university a private system, education leaders in Tokyo say. They are advising the new school to “study other business schools’ systems, and look to private companies who can invest money or donate money, or the school itself should make the students pay enough to cover the costs for having high grade professors.”
The central government has pledged it is “just helping at the beginning, until the school is on track for economical recovery. After that, the school will have to go by itself.” Education officials say the new school must plant seeds now, because “we need to see results after five years operations, and then look to the future. If nothing comes out, that’s the end of the money.”
The university is supposed to open in 2012. The steering committee is now wrestling with finding 30 professors with outstanding qualifications, and then getting the town surrounding the school set up to handle them. University officials say they new town must attract business-related industries and employees, modeling the community after successful American cities such as Boston.
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