National Universities In Japan Research Articles

Economies of scale and scope, merger effects, and ownership difference: an empirical analysis of universities in Japan

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates economies of scale and scope, and the merger effect among national universities in Japan. We apply SUR for the total translog cost function in FY2014 and FY2018. The main results are: (i) there exist economies of scale as a whole university; (ii) but there exist no clear economies of scope except for in research; (iii) there are cost saving effects with mergers among single colleges, but not in the case of mergers of general universities and medical colleges, (iv) both the costs of a public and a private university are higher than those of a national university.

JAMBIO and Its Coastal Organism Joint Surveys: Network of Marine Stations Explores Japanese Coastal Biota.

Marine stations have continued to contribute significantly to understanding the physiology, taxonomy, development, ecology, and evolution of animals. There are more than 50 marine stations of national universities in Japan, and historically their establishments were closely related to the initial stage of zoology in the country. More than 10 years ago, Japanese Association for Marine Biology (JAMBIO) was established to facilitate the collaboration among marine stations in the activities of research, education and administration. One of the successful activities of JAMBIO that contribute to zoology is the JAMBIO Coastal Organism Joint Surveys, in which scientists and students at multiple marine stations, as well as those from research institutes or museums, stay at a marine station for a few days, and collect and make a record of marine organisms. As of 2021, 22 surveys have been performed and new species have been reported from taxa such as Cnidaria, Nematoda, Platyhelminthes, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, and Echinodermata.

Pluralistic approaches for Japanese university students preparing to study abroad

AbstractIn today’s society, students are increasingly encountering various languages, different genres of language use, and new language norms in unexpected ways. Foreign language education at the university level should therefore equip students with the necessary metalinguistic competence to help them prepare for these linguistic and cultural differences. However, fostering such competence can be challenging when educational institutions enforce monolingual language education policies. This paper introduces a case study in which a pluralistic approach for learning about languages and cultures was implemented at a national university in Japan, in a course for students preparing to study abroad. After discussing the challenges in foreign language education at national universities in Japan, it describes the practice that was characterised by a specific pluralistic approach, Awakening to Languages. It then analyses what the students experienced and reported learning. The results suggest that even short-term use of the pluralistic approach helps improve metalinguistic competence. They also suggest that teachers should be more informed about educational measures that promote plurilingual competence, so that they can take more active roles in language education policy.RésuméDans la société actuelle, de plus en plus les élèves rencontrent diverses langues, différents genres d’utilisation des langues et de nouvelles normes linguistiques de manière inattendue. L’enseignement des langues étrangères au niveau universitaire devrait donc doter les étudiants des compétences métalinguistiques nécessaires pour les aider à se préparer à ces différences linguistiques et culturelles. Cependant, favoriser une telle compétence peut être difficile lorsque les établissements d’enseignement appliquent des politiques monolingues d’enseignement des langues.Cet article présente une étude de cas dans laquelle des approches plurielles des langues et des cultures a été mise en œuvre dans une université nationale au Japon, dans le cadre d’un cours destiné aux étudiants se préparant à étudier à l’étranger. Après avoir discuté des défis de l’enseignement des langues étrangères dans les universités nationales du Japon, il décrit la pratique caractérisée par une des approches plurielles, l’Éveil aux langues (Awakening to Languages). Il analyse ensuite ce que les élèves ont vécu et ce qu’ils ont cru avoir appris.Les résultats suggèrent que même l’utilisation à court terme de l’approche plurielle contribue à améliorer la compétence métalinguistique. Ils suggèrent également que les enseignants devraient être mieux informés sur les mesures éducatives qui favorisent la compétence plurilingue, afin qu’ils puissent jouer un rôle plus actif dans la politique d’enseignement des langues.

Statistical Characteristics of English Entrance Exams of National Universities in Japan

In spite of the decreasing population of teenagers in Japan, the university entrance exams continue to be one of the toughest events where their intelligence is tested, which include their competency level of English. However, very few researches have conducted on English exams. This study is a part of the continuous study the researchers have started in 2017, which studied the English entrance exams of eight national universities. They were selected from the list according to the T-score; two schools from 4 levels. The current study added the results of 2018 exams of the same universities. Upon digitalizing their English exams, the researchers first measured their readability levels using Ozasa-Fukui Year Level. They also performed Correspondence Analysis to study the interrelations among the nine exams. All eight exams are measured to be 7 th year or higher by Ozasa-Fukui Year Level, which is created to measure English level according to the 6 years in the secondary school system in Japan. The correspondence analysis produced 7 dimensions. However, due to the unexpectedly high value of one exam, the other seven exams’ interrelations became obscured; we have decided to perform another analysis without that particular exam. Its results showed that the seven exams could be categorized according to “business and culture” and “family.” The researchers further employed Cluster Analysis to study all seven dimensions produced by Correspondence Analysis, which showed that Kyoto18 and Hokkaido18 have strong ties with each other. We believe this study has given us a definite starting point for the research on the university entrance exams in Japan. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijhss.11.6.2

Trends and tensions of higher education at a rural Japanese national university

This article examines the impact of contemporary higher education policy at a rural university in Japan. Hirosaki University, although a national university with an attached medical school, is far from the centre of academia in Japan, with a comparatively low ranking among national universities in Japan, and severe budget constraints. The policies that influence the trajectory of the university simultaneously illustrate two dimensions. On the one hand, they reflect global trends of neoliberal higher educational governance as these unfold in a leading nation-state within Asia. On the other hand, they show how policies originating within central government ministries and dictated by population and budget dynamics yield a highly localised outcome that forces a peripheral university to concentrate its efforts predominantly in its own community.

A Survey on International Nursing Education of National Universities in Japan

A Survey on International Nursing Education of National Universities in Japan

Decline in the severity or the incidence of schizophrenia in Japan: A survey of university students.

Clinical manifestations of schizophrenia are believed to be becoming less severe in Japan, but little evidence supports this theory. We investigated the percentages of undergraduate students attending national universities in Japan who required temporary leave and who dropped out because of schizophrenia in the academic years 1986-1987, 1994-1995, and 2013-2014. The percentages of students who required temporary leave and those who dropped out because of schizophrenia significantly decreased over time. The severity of clinical manifestations of schizophrenia may have decreased, enabling more students with schizophrenia to continue their study, or the incidence of schizophrenia might have declined.

Reassessing Methods of Allocating Operational Subsidies to National Universities in Japan for the Enhancement of Their Functions

Reassessing Methods of Allocating Operational Subsidies to National Universities in Japan for the Enhancement of Their Functions

Number of papers published in English from the nursing departments of 42 national universities in Japan in the past ten years

In Japan, the departments of nursing were established by 2004, and graduate school programs for master's degree were established by 2008, in 42 national universities. With these changes, a more academic mission has been pursued, and the need for writing papers in English has increased. To investigate the numbers of papers published in English from the nursing departments of national universities in Japan over the past ten years. The lists of teachers who have nursing licenses in the departments of nursing in the 42 national universities (n=2292) were obtained from the Japan Association of Nursing Programs in Universities. The number of papers published in English by these teachers from 2004 to 2013 was counted using the SCOPUS database. The average number of total papers, in which at least one of the authors was a nursing teacher, and first-authored papers, in which the first author was a nursing teacher, were 211.4 and 69.9 per year, respectively; both increased approximately two-fold during the past ten years. The means and standard deviations of the number of total papers and first-authored papers were 50.3±63.8 (range: 1-382) and 18.3±23.4 (range: 0-147) according to universities, and 1.39±5.84 (range: 0-140) and 0.33±1.28 (range: 0-21) according to teachers, respectively. When journals with the highest number of papers were analyzed, 12 of the top 20 (total papers) and 12 of the top 16 (first-authored papers) were in journals whose editorial offices are in Japan. The number of papers published in English has increased over the past ten years, varied markedly depending on the universities and teachers, and many papers were published in Japanese journals. To our knowledge, this is the first report anywhere to determine the average number of nursing papers "per teacher" in a specific population.

Japan's National Universities and Reform

Japan's National Universities and Reform

Women's experiences in the engineering laboratory in Japan

This qualitative study aims to examine Japanese women undergraduate engineering students’ experiences of interacting with departmental peers of the same year in the laboratory setting by using interview data of 32 final-year students at two modestly selective national universities in Japan. Expectation state theory that explains unequal relationship between men and women is used as a framework. Findings suggest that women generally had a discouraging experience while working with their male peers. Specifically, women participated less and lost confidence by comparing with the men who appeared to be confident and competent.

Studies on Entrance Examination of National Universities in Japan and Direction of Its Improvement

Studies on Entrance Examination of National Universities in Japan and Direction of Its Improvement

Present Situations on Demand and Supply of E-journals in the Fields of Science, Technology and Medicine at the Small- and Middle-sized National Universities in Japan

Present Situations on Demand and Supply of E-journals in the Fields of Science, Technology and Medicine at the Small- and Middle-sized National Universities in Japan

Educational and Public Accountability of Higher Education Institutions in Case of National Universities in Japan

Educational and Public Accountability of Higher Education Institutions in Case of National Universities in Japan

Presenteeism in college students: reliability and validity of the Presenteeism Scale for Students

Presenteeism is the impaired work performance due to health problems. We aimed to develop a Presenteeism Scale for Students (PSS), and to reveal the existence of presenteeism among students. Students (n = 5,701) in 4 national universities in Japan were recruited via the school-based health examination. Moreover, 122 students participated in a 2-week interval test-retest to examine the reliability and criterion-related validity of the PSS. Of the students, 59.2% indicated some health problems. Allergy was most prevalent health problems, affecting 35.7% of the whole students. Students with emotional problems had higher degree of presenteeism than those with the other problems. The Cronbach's α of the work impairment score of the PSS was 0.90. The Spearman's coefficient for the test-retest score was 0.80 (P < 0.001). Regarding criterion-related validity, Spearman's coefficient between the work impairment score of the PSS and summary score of the SF-36 was -0.60 (P < 0.001). These findings suggest that the PSS can be expected to be useful for assessment of students with presenteeism. Furthermore, we found that the majority of students have some health problems, and proposed that the issue of presenteeism on campus should be addressed.

A statistical study of transferral and promotion mechanisms relating to the appointment of professors at Japanese national universities based on cross tabulation and log-linear model analysis

The aim of this study is to use the Japanese university employee list (published by Kojunsha) to compile a database of teacher transferrals in higher education (HM-DB) at 9 points in time over the 21-year period from 1988 to 2008, and then to use this database to assess and analyze the status of national university teachers immediately before and after assuming office as professors in order to gain some understanding of the transferral mechanisms of teachers at Japan's national universities. From the results of cross-tabulation analysis, it has become clear that a growing proportion of transfers involving the appointment of professors involve movements between very similar universities (transferral blocking phenomenon), and that there is a growing tendency for professorial appointments to involve a migration from universities with a lower share of published research papers to universities with a higher share. Also, by constructing a log-linear model and performing a residual analysis, we have found that although these trends are clearly apparent, they do not yet have a great deal of influence.

Was It a Success or a Failure, Introducing the System of Independent Administrative Agency to National Universities in Japan?

Was It a Success or a Failure, Introducing the System of Independent Administrative Agency to National Universities in Japan?

Does Admissions Office Selection at the National Universities in Japan Make the Whole Learning Abilities of the Students Lower?

Does Admissions Office Selection at the National Universities in Japan Make the Whole Learning Abilities of the Students Lower?

Incorporation of National Universities in Japan

In April 2004, Japanese national universities were incorporated and became much more autonomous from the government in their operations. Their managerial structure was realigned—placing the president at the centre of the decision-making process, and with the participation of external persons—to be more responsive to the changing needs of society. This article explores the impact of the reform on the national universities, focusing on how they handle increased autonomy in terms of financial and human resource management, evaluation, and so on. Then it analyses challenges for the future of national universities and argues for necessary conditions and policies to enable them to better serve society.

Reform of National Universities in Japan and Mission of the JARM

Reform of National Universities in Japan and Mission of the JARM