In the history of Japanese education, the "gender characteristics theory" that men and women naturally have different characteristics rejected not only the "gender equality theory" which came from Western Europe in the early Meiji era, but also the traditional "male chauvinism" of East Asia. According to the theory of…

Modern universities have largely been portrayed in the literature as an extension of nation building projects, focusing on the state as primary actor. This article challenges such presuppositions by separating 'nation' and 'state' and with a critical appropriation of diasporic subjectivity and institutions from a comparative historical…

Based on two national surveys of Japanese faculty members, the purpose of this study is to analyze whether changes had occurred in key aspects of governance arrangements in both national and private universities in Japan from 1992 to 2017. This study focuses on the changing relationships between national universities and the central government and…

This article examines contributions to the ethic and practice of cosmopolitanism by Japanese educators Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, Toda Josei and, most significantly, Ikeda Daisaku. Collectively, they are "the philosophers of the Soka movement" that Rizvi and Choo refer to in their call for a special issue on "Asian…

"New Directions of STEM Research and Learning in the World Ranking Movement: A Comparative Perspective" illustrates new directions of STEM higher education from the perspective of twenty-first century types of learning outcomes and focuses on need for developing an interdisciplinary approach to STEM higher education reform. It provides…

This article examines patterns of academic mobility of Japanese and East Asian universities from a comparative and historical perspective. Firstly, it overviews the historical background of the academic profession in this region, especially focusing on Japan. Secondly, making use of the typology of mobility patterns by Kim and Locke (2010), the…

A number of countries with public higher education systems have implemented privatisation policies. In Japan, the national government introduced the National University Corporation Act (NUCA) in 2004 and changed the legal status of national universities from that of government-owned public institutions to independent administrative agencies. Its…

The mission of national colleges of technology (NCT's) in Japan and the universities of technology (UT's) in Taiwan is to pragmatically prepare quality engineers and technologists. In recent years, the partnership among NCT's and UT's is extended and expanded. This paper introduces the pragmatic and successful partnership between National United…

University reforms around the world reflect many of the ideas and measures associated with the New Public Management (NPM) reform wave that emerged in Australia and New Zealand in the early 1980s. However, they also display features of the post-NPM reforms introduced in the last decade. In this article I focus on university reforms in Japan,…

This article examines the emergence of private universities in Meiji Japan (1868-1912). It begins by discussing the interrelationships of modernity projects with the emergence of state universities, and with the new state civil servants. Second, it reviews the processes through which forerunners of private universities emerged, considering…

A major role of education is to socialise individuals into being responsible and productive citizens. It is aimed at preparing people for the workforce and for participating in the public life of the nation. Educational systems are complex bureaucracies based on particular educational and social theories and philosophies. This paper is concerned…

This article investigates the changing state-university relations in Japan and Malaysia. Its main objective is to identify and examine possible lessons for Malaysia, based on the Japanese experience. Notably, since the late 1970s, Malaysia has been looking towards Japan as a model for socio-economic development (the "look-east" Policy)…

As of April 1 of 2004, Japanese national universities became National University Corporations (NUCs hereafter). While the reform was implemented in a wave of initiatives for restructuring government activities, it reflected to an extent the current global trend toward marketization of higher education. Examination of this reform will not only help…

This paper notes that universities are mobile. That is, models of universities are transferred or borrowed or move around the world and in the process of moving or being moved they tend to change or be changed from the kind of university they were--either in practice or as ideals at the point of origin. To explore these themes the article…

Published in order to further a better understanding of how work in the field of rural sociology is carried on in various places, the six papers describe pedagogical and research activities relating to the sociological concern for rural people in West Africa, Brazil, Iran, the Middle East, Japan, and India. Each paper describes the evolution of…