This article examines the paradoxical teacher shortage in Japan 50 years after the enactment of the 1974 Securing Educational Personnel Act, which aimed to attract talented individuals to the teaching profession. It analyses how teacher education policies, administrative reforms, and fiscal measures have contributed to the current situation. The…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to measure the technical efficiency of Japanese national universities over the period 2010-2016. In addition, the authors also sought to identify the determinants of efficiency, especially those amenable to public policy intervention. Design/methodology/approach: First, the authors ran a global intertemporal…

This study analyzes and discusses how competition-based funding has been institutionalized in the three North East Asian countries of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan since the neoliberal reforms in the 1990s. We found that states set aside additional, 'competition-based' funding for distribution among higher education institutions. In addition, private…

There is a growing consensus in political science research that higher education systems are classifiable into stable distinct types that reflect dominant trends in government partisanship. There is also a large body of higher education research that argues that higher education systems are changing and converging upon a neoliberal type, which is…

How has schooling functioned in the construction of meritocratic national systems historically? To what extent will these historical patterns and normative commitments continue in the new era of a global meritocracy? And ultimately, how can educators effectively balance the inherent tension between individual merit and standardized quality? Kariya…

The objective of this research was to understand the current situation and challenges associated with the internationalization of the curriculum (IoC) in English-medium instruction (EMI) programs at Japanese universities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing a conceptual framework and ideas of 'enablers' and 'blockers' of IoC, we…

In 2020, 1.5 billion students in 188 countries/economies were locked out of their schools. Students everywhere have been faced with schools that are open one day and closed the next, causing massive disruption to their learning. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic still raging, many education systems are still struggling, and the situation is…

This brochure focuses on a selection of indicators from "Education at a Glance," selected for their particular relevance in the current context. Their analysis enables the understanding of countries' response and potential impact from the COVID-19 containment measures. The following topics are discussed: (1) the impact of the crisis on…

This book examines some of the major higher education reforms and policy shifts globally, particularly in the light of recent shifts in quality and standards-driven education and policy research. It critiques the neo-liberal ideological imperatives of current higher education and policy reforms, and illustrates the way that changes in the…

The central focus of this book is the concept of higher education reform in the light of an international and global comparative perspective. After decades of far-reaching reform, higher education around the world has profoundly changed and now has to face the challenges of the present. This volume takes a close look at these changes, the drivers…

This book critiques dominant discourses and debates pertaining to values education, cultural identity and teaching democracy, set against the backdrop of growing social stratification and unequal access to quality education. It addresses discourses concerning globalisation, ideologies and the state, as well as approaches to values education and…

Japan stands as a rare country in which ESD has been incorporated as mainstream policy. However, looking back on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD), ESD has not brought about the transformation in Japan that one expects ESD to aim for, despite this support at the policy level. The cause may be that pouring…

This paper explores how bureaucracy impedes the implementation of higher education (HE) policy at Japanese universities. Administrative systems employ Weberian legal-rational bureaucratic practices that are central to the institutional identity of a university. Rather than the means to internationalisation and reform in general, these systems…

The challenge of funding a high quality higher education system, ensuring it has the capacity to help meet the increasing demand for high level skills in our economy and the aspirations of our students, has been an ongoing concern for successive Australian governments over many years. This paper reviews the findings and recommendations of…

The term "globalization" does more than represent a set of material (and ideological) processes that have impacts on education and schooling. Additionally, "globalization" operates as a conceptual lens or set of interventions, which is significantly impacting academic discourses in Education and in other disciplines. Not only…