Japanese Private University Research Articles

일본 사립대학 재정구조와 운영 실태 분석

The purpose of this study is to analyze the financial structure and operation of Japanese private universities and the financial support systems of educational corporations and national and local governments to find implications for improving the financial structure of our private universities. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, previous research, Japanese Private School Law and related regulations, literature and statistical data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Private School Promotion and Mutual Aid Foundation, and Association of Private Universities were analyzed.
 As a result of analyzing the financial structure and operation status of Japanese private universities, despite having a similar ｢private school law｣, there were many differences in the financial structure and operation. The implications for improving the financial structure of our private universities obtained through the analysis of the financial structure and operation of Japanese private universities are as follows.
 First, it is necessary to try to integrate the accounts of university and the accounts of corporation. Second, it is necessary to review ways to subdivide the tuition fee items. Third, it is necessary to reduce project expenses that should be used only for specific purposes and expand subsidies for current expenses. Fourth, it is necessary to consider introducing a grant-type scholarship system that directly supports students' living expenses. Fifth, it is necessary to promote the issuance of interest-free school bonds. Sixth, the accumulation of accumulated depreciation should be mandatory.

Examining the Dependability and Practicality of Analytic Rubric of Summary Writing Using Multivariate Generalizability Theory: Focusing on Japanese University Students with Lower-Intermediate Proficiency in English

English teachers, especially those who teach summary writing to students with relatively lower proficiency in English face difficulty in teaching summary writing and while assessing their students’ performances. In the classroom context, an analytic rubric is pedagogically more helpful than a holistic rubric because the teacher can confirm the strengths and weaknesses of their students’ summary performance and the students can receive constructive feedback (Yamanishi et al., 2019). This study examined the practicality of the analytic rubric which consisted of four rating scales, including language use, by investigating seven in-service English teachers’ honest assessment of 160 summaries of Japanese private university students who are inexperienced in writing English summaries and have lower-intermediate proficiency of English. Furthermore, this study examined the dependability of the analytic rubric using multivariate generalizability theory (Brennan, 2001). The results showed that assessing language use and judging summaries, copied, to a lesser or greater extent, from the source text was difficult because of diverse linguistic errors and the use of paraphrasing was lacking. Therefore, it is necessary to define the gravity of language errors and that of copying in more detail to develop a rubric that suits to assess the summaries written by English learners with lower-intermediate level of English.

On Motivations for Southeast Asian Doctoral Students’ Studying at Japanese Private Universities

It was investigated why Southeast Asian recipients of engineering or related fields studied at Japanese private universities. Scholarships were the most popular reason. The reasons that they liked Japan and that the research or education level at Japanese universities was high were less popular. About a half of questionnaire respondents had been to Japan before they studied at Japanese language institutes or at Japanese universities. More than ninety percent of respondents were interested in Japanese culture before they studied at Japanese language institutes or at Japanese universities. These implied that they had advance knowledge on Japan before they studied in Japan. Correlation analysis implied that Japanese anime or cartoons would be one of indirect causes of Southeast Asian doctoral students’ studying at Japanese private universities. Analysis of international students’ voices on Japanese private universities’ official web pages showed that one reason why they were motivated to study at Japanese private universities was interest in the Japanese language and Japanese culture. This is consistent with the questionnaire survey.

コロナ禍における学生の孤独感と主観的ソーシャル・キャピタル，非対面・対面コミュニケーション行動，三密回避規範の認知の関連

The purposes of the present study were to report a loneliness reduction model using student’s subjective social capital (SSC), computer mediated communication (CMC) or face to face (FTF) behavior and perceptions of the closed spaces, crowded places, close-contacts avoidance (perceptions of the norms of avoiding 3Cs) in COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we focused on subjective social capital as people’s cognition of the psychosocial resource availability accumulated by contact with others. Online cross-section research was conducted at 3th faculties in a Japanese private university, in July 2020, collecting 732 samples. And analyses were done for 659 samples. The results showed that the norms of avoiding 3Cs affected computer mediated or face to face communication behavior, and computer mediated or face to face communication behavior affected SSC, and the SSC reduces loneliness. These results imply that SSC, CMC and FTF are the important factor for student to decrease loneliness in COVID-19 pandemic.

Budget Ratcheting and Debtholders' Monitoring: Evidence from Private Colleges and Universities

ABSTRACT This study examines whether budget ratcheting occurs in Japanese private colleges and universities (PC&Us) and how debtholders affect it. We predict that managers of Japanese PC&Us have incentives to increase their budgets to enhance their reputation from internal stakeholders; moreover, most of their stakeholders are less likely to strictly monitor the manager's behavior, which creates the opportunity for budget ratcheting. First, we find that the budget for program expense increases associated with prior year overspending is larger than for decreases associated with underspending of the same amount, consistent with the budget ratcheting hypothesis. Second, we also find that the extent of budget ratcheting is less pronounced in PC&Us with debtholders and earnings losses, suggesting that debtholders such as banks monitor budgetary practices. This study contributes to the budget ratcheting literature by adding new findings on the budget ratcheting practices of nonprofit organizations, namely, PC&Us. JEL Classifications: I23; L31; M41; M48; H83.

Impact of university reform on research performance aggregated and disaggregated across research fields: a case study of the partial privatization of Japanese national universities

This study quantitatively estimates the impacts of the partial privatization of Japanese national universities (as implemented in 2004) on research performance outcomes, which are aggregated and disaggregated across research fields. Japanese private universities can be viewed as counterfactuals not targeted by the reform for the same period, which provides within-country variations in this governance/managerial change. Difference-in-differences estimation strategies using private universities as control groups show that the partial privatization of national universities has resulted in a deterioration in the quality and quantity of national universities’ research output, as constructed using publication records from 1999 to 2009. The study then estimates the effects of partial privatization disaggregated by research field and finds that only medical science is negatively affected by the partial privatization. This study is the first to provide a quantitative assessment of whether the partial privatization of Japanese universities has been favorable for research performance using an identification strategy based on a quasi-experiment. It also reveals the heterogeneous impacts across research fields and departments.

Expense Budget Ratcheting Under Zero-Profit Incentive: Evidence from Private Colleges and Universities

This study examines whether budget ratcheting occurs in Japanese private colleges and universities (PCU moreover, most of their stakeholders are less likely to strictly monitor the manager’s behavior, which creates the opportunity for budget ratcheting. First, we find that the budget for program expense increases associated with prior year overspending is larger than for decreases associated with underspending of the same amount, consistent with the budget ratcheting hypothesis. Second, we also find that the extent of budget ratcheting is less pronounced in PC&Us with debtholders and earnings losses, suggesting that debtholders such as banks monitor budgetary practices. This study contributes to the budget ratcheting literature by adding new findings on the budget ratcheting practices of nonprofit organizations, namely, PC&Us.

Intercultural relationship development and higher education internationalisation: a qualitative investigation based on a three-stage ecological and person-in-context conceptual framework

This qualitative study scrutinised the experiences of intercultural relationship development between international and domestic students at two Japanese private universities, which have contrastive degrees of commitment to internationalisation in regard to stated vision, curriculum, international student enrolment and languages of instruction. Kudo et al.’s (Higher Education, 77(3), 473–489, 2019) three-stage ecological and person-in-context conceptual framework was adopted to gain insight into the roles of institutional internationalisation and personal agency in intercultural relationship development. A thematic analysis of interview data from 32 students (14 domestics, 18 internationals) revealed that institutional internationalisation may play a relatively small role in promoting intercultural relationship development compared to students’ agency. A detailed examination of the associations between three forms of agency (i.e. situated, cosmopolitan and creative) and three relational stages (i.e. interactivity, reciprocity and unity) led to the identification of cosmopolitan agency as a meaningful hallmark of intercultural relationship development. These findings call for future research aimed at identifying the environmental and individual conditions that are most conducive to the cultivation of cosmopolitan agency in both international and domestic students.

Creating an International Baccalaureate Student-friendly National University in Japan

The number of International Baccalaureate (IB) students applying to Japanese Universities is increasing. Okayama University is a Super Global Japanese National University which started IB admissions since 2012 and presently, has 36 IB students in 11 faculties and 1 special program. Through IB student support, IB research and conducting surveys, Okayama University is aiming to become an IB friendly University. Twenty college counselors from International Schools and First Article schools in Japan, filled out a survey anonymously, regarding the following topics; expectations of Japanese National Universities; disappointing aspects of Japanese National University Admission policies; suggestions to improve existing admission policies; reasons behind IB students choosing Foreign Universities over Japanese Universities or choosing Private Universities over National Universities, respectively. Lack of understanding of the IB education system, leading to unrealistic expectations of IB students, was a major concern among all college counselors. Unfamiliarity with overseas admission policies regarding age at admission, language requirements, IB credit transfers and recognition of the IB Diploma, led IB students to opt for foreign Universities. Finally, Japanese Private Universities with admission policies similar to overseas Universities, offering a wide range of study options, are prioritized over National Universities, irrespective of high tuition fees. Multiple approaches are necessary to become an IB-friendly University. A clear understanding of the IB education system which is very different from Japanese High School education, is essential. Okayama University is making every effort towards balancing the needs of IB students with the expectations of Japanese University teachers to become more IB friendly.

Organizational climate with gender equity and burnout among university academics in Japan.

We investigated relationships between the perception of organizational climate with gender equity and psychological health among 94 women and 211 men in a Japanese private university in 2015 using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (i.e., personal, work-related and student-related burnout). Perceptions of organizational climate with respect to gender equity were measured with two scales including organizational engagement with a gender equal society in the workplace (consisting of three domains of ‘Women utilization’, ‘Organizational promotion of gender equal society’ and ‘Consultation service’); and a gender inequality in academia scale that had been previously developed. Multivariable linear models demonstrated significant statistical interactions between gender and perceptions of organizational climate; ‘Women utilization’ or lack of ‘Inequality in academia’ alleviated burnout only in women. In consequence of this gender difference, when ‘Women utilization’ was at a lower level, both personal (p=.038) and work-related (p=.010) burnout scores were higher in women, and the student-related burnout score was lower in women when they perceived less inequality in academia than in men (p=.030). As such, it is suggested organizational fairness for gender equity may be a useful tool to help mitigate psychological burnout among women in academia.

Reform Measures and Enlightenment of the Education Quality Assurance about Japanese Private Universities

After the 90th, in order to strengthen the position of the global scientific and technological competition, Japan launched a series of higher education reform to protect the quality of education. The number of schools, the number of students accounted for more than 70% of the total number of private universities in Japan; there is no doubt that the key to the quality of the education is reform. After more than ten years of development, Japan has formed a set of relatively complete system of higher education quality assurance, which is based on the government as the leading, the University self-evaluation as the core, and the external third party evaluation as the core. This paper analyzes the characteristics of the education quality assurance of the Japanese Private University from the aspects of government, private universities, and the third party evaluation organizations. Through summarizing the characteristics and experiences of the education quality assurance of the private university in Japan, we can provide a useful reference for the quality assurance of private education in China.

A Preliminary Study of Employment of Part-Time Lecturers In Japanese Private Universities : From the Viewpoint of USR

A Preliminary Study of Employment of Part-Time Lecturers In Japanese Private Universities : From the Viewpoint of USR

Scale and scope economies of Japanese private universities revisited with an input distance function approach

This paper examines the scale and scope economies of higher education institutions in Japan assuming the presence of productive inefficiency. The standard approach to testing the scope economies is to apply the cost function. However, the cost function approach often entails the difficulty of obtaining reliable data on input prices, especially the input prices of capital for higher education institutions. This paper proposes a duality approach based on the input distance function. The scope economies are tested under a necessary and sufficient condition by retrieving the costs of joint and separate production from the input distance function. We apply the testing procedure to data pertaining to 218 Japanese private universities in 1999 and 2004. The results indicate the scale economies and the scope diseconomies.

The need for private universities in Japan to be agents of change

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine a number of current innovations made by private higher educational institutions in Japan to counter decreased enrollments and financial constraints.Design/methodology/approachThe design of this study is both descriptive and conceptual, based on the latest data available. Additional information was obtained through informal surveys of private institutions.FindingsEfforts on all fronts will be required to resolve some of the more glaring problems facing private higher education in Japan today. While some of the factors contributing to the deterioration of educational standards, such as the economy and demographic changes are beyond the control of the institutions themselves, efforts to staunch the rapid deterioration of educational quality are essential. Renovation in Japanese private university higher education should start with improvements in teaching and faculty development. Private universities must realize that reinvigorating the system will need the cooperation of both faculty members and administrators if universities are to survive in the new economic and social environment.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the need for private universities to be the agents of change to address the dire straits of higher education in Japan and it is imperative that new and innovative approaches be implemented.

The Importance of Promoting a Gender Equality in Japanese Private University

The Importance of Promoting a Gender Equality in Japanese Private University

Current trends in diagnostic and therapeutic principles for prostate cancer in Japan

This study aimed to clarify characteristics of the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer in Japan. In September 2005, questionnaire surveys were mailed to Japanese urologists (response rate, 43%; 474/1090) who were listed as voting members (VMs) of the Japanese Urological Association (JUA); the questionnaire surveys were also mailed to professors and chairmen (PCs) of urology departments at Japanese national, public, and private universities who were also VMs of the JUA (response rate, 76%; 68/90). The questionnaires asked about beliefs and practices regarding prostate cancer management. The answers of the VMs and PCs to the questionnaire were very similar. About 60% of these urologists answered that they did not set an age limit for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, and about 40% answered that they did not set an age limit for prostate needle biopsy in individuals with an intermediately elevated PSA level. The age limit for radical prostatectomy (RP) was set at 75 years by 69% (322/470) of the VMs and 66% (45/68) of the PCs. The order of priority of factors considered for the selection of RP for early prostate cancer was radicality, including tumor grade (mean, 1.97); patient's wish for radical surgery (mean, 2.47); comorbidity (mean, 2.72); and age (mean, 2.81). There are trends in diagnostic and therapeutic principles for prostate cancer which are characteristic of Japan, and these trends are associated with the recent rapid extension of life expectancy in that country.

Economies of Scale and Scope in Japanese Private Universities

A flexible fixed-cost quadratic function is employed to estimate multiple-output cost functions for 94 private universities in Japan for the year 1991. The three outputs employed are undergraduate teaching, graduate teaching and research. Our results provide evidence of ray economics of scale and both global and product-specific economies of scope. Product-specific economics of scale are shown for undergraduate and graduate teaching in relatively small universities and for research in relatively large universities. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Cognitive intereference and test anxiety of the Japanese private university students

The Thought Occurrence Questionnaire (TOQ) and Reactions to Test (RTT) which were developed by Sarason were administered to 123 college students. Sixty two students were successful candidates of the entrance examination of Doshisha University (E) . The other students (NE) were candidates recommended for admission by high school. They did not take the entrance examination. The TOQ responses of 2 groups were factor analyzed separately, and score of each factor was correlated to the subscales of the RTT. The result of factor analysis of the NE subjects' TOQ was quite similar to that of Sarason et al. (1986), but the E subjects' result showed a different factor structure. For the NE group, Factor 3 of TOQ (Thoughts of escape from the task) and RTT subscores indicated the highest relationships similar to previous studies. As to E group, however, Factor 2 of TOQ (Task relevant worries) and Worry and Task Irrelevant Thinking scales of RTT correlated at the 5% level; other correlations were not siginificant. These results indicate the strong influence of Japanese university entrance examinations on the candidates' cognitive performance.

私立大学授業料に関する日米比較分析

This paper firstly analyzes the relationship between the level of tuition fees and the characteristics defining university quality in Japanese private universities, secondly, compares these results with other research findings gained from a study of U. S. private universities, and finally, examines the differences in higher education policy conerning private university tuition in the two countries, Japan and the U. S.An empirical analysis uses data related to the following university characteristics: tuition fees, admission selectivity, age of the institution, enrollment, number of faculty members, student/teacher ratio, and an additional six variables. A simple correlation is calculated using these twelve variables, and the tuition fee is regressed on admission selectivity. The results show that in Japanese private universities, tuition fees are positively correlated with selectivity; there is no correlation between tuition fees and the number of students enrolled; and the higher the tuition fees, the larger, strangely enough, the number of students per faculty. Regression analysis gives a figure for marginal tuition revenue in four ‘gakubu’(schools); 3, 781 yen in the School of Literature, meaning that the school can expect 3, 781 yen revenue increase per student as the selectivity goes up by an additional one unit; 5, 106 yen in the School of Economics; 11, 193 yen in the School of Engineering; and minus 93, 875 yen in the School of Medicine.The research results show that the more prestigious the school, the more expensive its tuition in both countries. This can be called the “market mechanism” in higher education, whereby the stronger the demand and the better the quality are, the higher the price (tuition fees). This market mechanism, however, comes into conflict with the social need for highly talented manpower and an equal opportunity policy, because the abler students are likely to be more reluctant to go to presitious colleges and universities, where they will have to pay higher tuition fees. American system resolves this conflict through its strong and varied scholarship programs, while in Japan with its poorer scholarship programs, there is still a problem about providing equal opportunity in higher education.

Japanese private university as a socialization system for future leaders in business and industry

The Japanese Private University is viewed as a modern socialization system for processing youth into leadership positions in business and industry. A “degreeocracy” and an “assimilation” hypothesis were proposed to explain the process of psychological development through the university. The “degreeocracy” hypothesis ascribes a utilitarian view of one's certification by a particular university. According to this hypothesis, students will come to shape their behaviors and attitudes to be compatible with the “degree” as they progress from freshmen to seniors. In contrast, the “assimilation” hypothesis denotes that the extent to conforming to, and identifying with the norms and goals of the university will depend upon social and educational background. Three groups differing in terms of the potential for assimilation were identified based upon social and educational background. Data were collected from samples of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors majoring in engineering in one of the largest private universities in Japan. Results supported both hypotheses. Differences among “assimilation” subgroups were significant but these differences were not exacerbated over grade year. The findings are discussed in terms of the particular nature of the private university and the larger employment system for college graduates in Japan.