International Strategy Office

This study analyzes the impact of intra-sectoral mobility of academics on research productivity and R&D information exchange dynamics in Japan. The analysis shows intra-sectoral mobility impacting positively both research productivity and information exchange dynamics, but that this effect-except for information exchange with peers based abroad-has a threshold. This result highlights the importance of academic job mobility but also alerts for cases of ''overloads of mobility,'' leading us to argue for some degree of stability in academic careers, supported by policies fostering temporary international mobility spells. We also find that the role of foreign academics in the Japanese higher education is one of national and international gatekeepers being this role shaped by where the doctorate was obtained (Japan vs abroad). Japanese academics that have performed the doctorate abroad are also key international gatekeepers.

This article analyzes the development of the quality assurance system and changes in market forces in higher education in Japan. First, the article focuses on the function and impact of self-monitoring and self-evaluation systems as unique processes oriented towards decentralization and internal reflection. Second, the changes in market forces in higher education during rapid economic globalization are discussed. Third, the possibility of external evaluation by the National Institution for Academic Degrees is introduced as a bureaucratic approach to show accountability in the national university system. Finally, the relationship between the changes in the quality assurance system and the changes in market forces is addressed.

Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to analyze the recent evolution of the policy debate over the internationalization of Japanese higher education in times of particularly strong financial constraint, with reference also made to trends in the higher education systems of ...

Throughout the history of edncational sociology in Japan, research on higher education has been carried out somewhat autonomously from research into other educational sectors. Access to higher education and the impact ofuniversity credentials on young people's career development has been treated as the central topic of sociology ofeducation, in terms of Gakureki Shakai, the indigenous development of a credential soeiety. At the same time, the Japanese sociology of education community has included a broad range of social scientists from neighboring fields, such as economics and anthropology.

The decentralisation of educational administration in Indonesia has recently been the focus of much interest throughout the Asia-Pacific region. With its massive population and multi-ethnic social background, Indonesia serves as an interesting example when considering the real impact of decentralized systems on the financing of Junior Secondary Education in developing countries. In this paper, first, the decentralisation scheme and the current financial budgeting system at the school level of junior secondary education in Indonesia are outlined. Second, a quantitative analysis of the unit cost among provinces, districts and schools is detailed. Finally, policy tasks for the further development of decentralised administration will be identified. Even under the former centralised regime, each school or district was operating in a varied way, while it is also true that the process of this diversified financial budgeting was not always a strategic one.

A new world-class university policy called the Designated National University scheme was introduced in Japan in 2017. Six national universities are now given a distinguished legal status, differentiating them from all other national universities, and are expected to be competitive with leading universities worldwide. However, the government expects the selected universities to be capable of generating their own income. In light of the uncertainty surrounding the highly complex mechanism linking knowledge activities at universities and industrial commercialization, this appears to be a risk-taking policy.

This paper examines shifts in the knowledge production policy agenda at Japanese research universitiesa transition from discipline-based academic tradition towards interdisciplinary forms of knowledge productionthrough a case study of a leading interdisciplinary research institute. We examine this transition through the case of Tohoku University, one of seven 'Designated National Universities', and its flagship International Research Institute of Disaster Science. Documentary analysis revealed a renewed emphasis on interdisciplinarity, evident in restructuring towards a 'blended hybrid' model to reconcile the different institutional logics of diverse research traditions among its staff. Interviews with key stakeholders uncovered the internal dynamics of this process, its barriers and opportunities. We conclude with implications for Japanese higher education, arguing that a shift to 'blended hybrid' institutional forms is necessary but insufficient to maintain successful interdisciplinary research institutes. Success is contingent on simultaneous commitment to sustainable international connections and relationships with diverse external stakeholders.

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