Purpose: Hikikomori is a multidimensional condition, characterized by voluntarily social withdrawal, impacting the relational dimension of life. The current study aims to examine secondary school teachers' beliefs, knowledge and needs on hikikomori and students' social withdrawal. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative method consisting of a…

Innovation is essential for the education sector. The ways in which curriculum decision making is organised reflects different implicit approaches on how educational systems pertain to promote innovation in education. Curriculum holds an outstanding place when seeking to promote innovation in education, as it reflects the vision for education by…

This study focuses on aspects of the Changing Academic Profession survey of 2007-08 that describe the place of faculty in their institutions. The authors examine the following aspects of institutional life: (1) the faculty role in institutional governance; (2) who evaluates their teaching and research; (3) the locus of their loyalties as between…

This year the Research Institute for Higher Education in Hiroshima University hosted an international conference in close collaboration with Hijiyama University. The main purpose of the 2008 conference was to enable the participants to give preliminary country/regional reports based on their national/regional surveys. This publication reports the…

Essays include: gentlemen and players, the changing British professoriate (Gareth Williams); the robed baron, the academic profession in the Italian university (Guido Martinotti, Alberto Giasanti); the changing role of the Japanese professor (William K. Cummings, Ikuo Amano); academic staff and academic drift in Australian colleges of advanced…