From owner-he-forum@ml.asahi-net.or.jp Wed Jun 28 00:58 JST 2000 Received: from ml-dist.asahi-net.or.jp (ml-dist.asahi-net.or.jp [202.224.39.110]) by sakaki.math.tohoku.ac.jp (8.9.3/3.7W) with ESMTP id AAA17400 for ; Wed, 28 Jun 2000 00:58:08 +0900 (JST) Received: from ml.asahi-net.or.jp (ml.asahi-net.or.jp [202.224.39.111]) by ml-dist.asahi-net.or.jp (8.9.3+3.2W/3.7W) with ESMTP id AAA29734; Wed, 28 Jun 2000 00:58:31 +0900 (JST) Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) by ml.asahi-net.or.jp (8.8.8/3.7W) with SMTP id AAA20632; Wed, 28 Jun 2000 00:54:03 +0900 Received: by ml.asahi-net.or.jp; Wed, 28 Jun 2000 00:53:58 +0900 Received: (from ml@localhost) by ml.asahi-net.or.jp (8.8.8/3.7W) id AAA07644 for he-forum-outgoing; Wed, 28 Jun 2000 00:53:24 +0900 Message-Id: <200006271553.AAA07644@ml.asahi-net.or.jp> To: he-forum Subject: [he-forum 1060] Radio Japan 06/19 X-Mailer: Mew version 1.94.2 on Emacs 20.4 / Mule 4.1 (AOI) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 00:55:03 +0900 (JST) From: Hiroaki Ozawa X-Dispatcher: imput version 20000228(IM140) Lines: 79 Sender: owner-he-forum@ml.asahi-net.or.jp Precedence: bulk Reply-To: he-forum@ml.asahi-net.or.jp Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=iso-2022-jp Content-Length: 4763 以下のNHK, Radio Japan放送の日本語版は、he-forum 1026 をご覧下さい。 ------------------- Monday 19 June 2000 News Commentary: Changes for Japan's National Universities We now bring you News Commentary. Today's talk is about changes to Japan's national universities. It was written by Radio Japan commentator, Nobuo Hayakawa. Consideration is underway to transform Japan's national university into independent administrative corporations. It will be the first time that national universities will be subjected to a change of status since the first national university -Tokyo Imperial University- was established in 1886. Debate on altering the status of national universities begun a few years ago when Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was in office. The proposal was one in a series of proposals to reorganize the central government. The idea is to turn a number of government bodies in the non-clerical or the service sectors to independent corporations and run them like a business enterprise. The aim is to make a leader and more efficient government. What will happen if national universities are turned into independent corporations? The change will not involve privatization. The universities will be obliged to be obliged to set five-year goals for education and research. Five years later, an independent, outside body will then evaluate whether these goals have been met. This body will be different from the organizations that will evaluate other independent public agencies. The body will be made up of experts familiar with education and research. Its evaluation will determine the amount of funding that each national university will receive. While nothing is definite yet, it is possible that under-performing institutions will be asked to close their doors. And what do the universities think of the proposed reforms? The influential national universities are increasingly resigning themselves to the changes. Their only condition is that the government guarantee funding and teachers' jobs. Such universities demand they should be free to allocate funds and human resources. They welcome the proposed changes in that the Education Ministry will no longer have full control over the way that funds are spent. Universities will have a degree of freedom in the way they use their money ? spending will not be restricted to single financial years; the universities will be able to carry over balances into successive financial years. There is some deep-rooted opposition to the proposed reforms. Some of the regional national universities are concerned that the prestigious national universities in the big cities will receive the lion's share of funding. They worry about the evaluation that will be provided by the outside, independent body. Some people argue that the emphasis on efficiency is wrong. Some kinds of research cannot produce results in only five years. The evaluation could reduce the amount of basic research being pursued at universities. Some people are using the outside pressure to alter the status of national universities to pursue other reforms. Opinion is split a number of ways. Universities are beginning to implement reforms along with moves to change them into independent corporations. In Yamanashi Prefecture, negotiations officially begun last month to merge two nationally-run institutions: the Yamanashi Medical University and Yamanashi University. The aim is to combine the two institutions in two years' time. The merger, if it comes about, will be first since the current university system was established in 1949. There are thirteen nationally-run medical colleges around the nation, and consideration is underway to merge some regional medical colleges with their local nationally-run universities, for example, in the case of Kagawa, Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures. Until now, the number of nationally-run universities has been on the increase. In the future, we might see a decrease because of mergers. The Education Ministry is looking at turning national universities into independent corporations in the face of fierce objections from some people. The national universities are almost certain to become independent corporations. The Ministry will set up a panel by the end of this month to examine issues involved with the change of status. The Ministry and people in academia should take this opportunity not only to examine the change of status, but to discuss how universities should be and ways of improving the level of education and research at Japanese universities. News Commentary. Today's talk was written by Radio Japan commentator, Nobuo Hayakawa. This is Radio Japan.