“Quality Access in Japanese Higher
Education and Its Challenges”
8-9 December 2008
OECD/France International Conference
“Higher Education to 2030:What Futures for Quality
Access in the Era of Globalisation?”
Paris, France
Professor Tatsuya SAKAMOTO
Vice-President for International Collaboration and Education
Keio University, Japan
1
Outline of Presentation
• Introduction
• Current Status of Japanese HE
• Three Fundamental Challenges :
“Universalization” “Globalization” “Underfunding”
• Future Scenarios for Quality Access in Japanese HE
2
Keio University : A Profile

Founded in 1858 by Yukichi FUKUZAWA (1835-1901)
 Cf. U. of Tokyo (1877) Waseda U. (1882)
 Legal status as “university” granted in 1890
 Oldest higher education in Japan
 6 campuses in Japan, 1 in New York
 10 faculties and 14 graduate schools
 President Yuichiro ANZAI (2001-)
 28,000 undergrad., 4,000 grad. Students
 2,000+ teaching and 2,700 administrative staff
 Annual budget of 1.3 billion US dollars
 Endowment of 3.5 billion US dollars
3
Keio’s Educational System
10 Undergraduate Faculties 14 Graduate Schools
 Letters
 Economics
 Law
 Business & Commerce
 School of Medicine
 Science & Technology
 Policy Management
 Environment & Information
Studies
 Nursing & Medical Care
 Pharmacy
4
 Letters
 Economics
 Law
 Human Relations
 Business & Commerce
 Medicine
 Science & Technology
 Business Administration (KBS)
 Media & Governance
 Law School
 Health Management
 System Design & Management
 Media Design
 Pharmaceutical Sciences
Yukichi FUKUZAWA: The Founder（1835-1901)
Fukuzawa’s Intellectual Background
 Modern Western learning (turning from Dutch to
English studies) on the basis of traditional Chinese
(Confucian) learning
 Systematic thinking on the origin and nature of
Western Civilization
Fukuzawa’s Experience of Western
civilization
 Grand Tour over 7 major European Countries for
12 months in 1862
 Visited USA twice in 1860 and 1867
A committed internationalist,
a minority fighting against the
nationalist majority of the time
5
（1835-1901)
Keio as Private U. and the National University
Founder
Institutional
Mission
6
Keio University
as
Private Institution
National University
As
“Public” Institution
1858
1886~(Decree for Imperial
University)
1947~(School Education Law)
Yukichi Fukuzawa
“Independence and
Self-Respect”
Fostering Leaders of
Liberal and
Democratic Society
Organ for Producing National
Leaders and Elites
1886~
“Rich Country, Strong Military”
1947~
“Democracy and Economic
Development”
Major Reforms in HE Policy after 1945
• 1947 Law of School Education
• 1956 Regulations for the Foundation of University (RFU)
• 1984 “120,000 Foreign Students” Initiative by PM
Nakasone
• 1991 DEREGULATION OF THE RFU
• 2004 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATIZATION
• 2006 New Fundamental Law of Education
• 2008 “300,000 Foreign Students” Initiative by PM Fukuda
• Problem = Non-Existence of Strategic Grand Plan for HE
and Its Nature, Social Significance and Future Scenarios
7
National University Semi-Privatization in 2004
8
Japanese Higher Education (HE) at A Glance
•
86 National, 75 Public, 593 Private Universities (as of April 1, 2008)
•
3 million students (more than 50% of school leavers) are
enrolled in the universities
• Over 70 % of school leavers go to post-secondary education
• Increase of HE enrolments as a result of deregulation of HE
notwithstanding the declining number of 18 yrs olds.
• Over 70% university students enrolled in private universities
9
Governmental under-funding for HE
• 1,060 billion yen for National and 300 billion yen for
private universities
(= 50 % for national and 10% for private U. budget)
• 1% cut every year of National U. Budget
• Lowest public financing of HE in OECD countries (0.5% of
GDP)
•
10
50 % private U. suffering from under-enrollment of
students
Negative Impacts of the Recent HE Reforms
• Widening Disparities between:
> “Old Imperial University” and Regional National
University
> National U. and Private U.
> Stronger U. in general and Weaker U. in general
• Declining international status of Japanese HE
11
Globalization of HE in Japan
• Increase of foreign students:
from 15, 000 (1991) to 120,000 (2005)
• Students from China, Korea and Taiwan occupies over 80%
• Students from US, France and Germany shares only 2.3 %
• Major issues:
> Low quality and internationally less than competitive university
teaching
> Linguistic Barrier
> Student housing and Scholarship
12
Best and Worst Scenarios for Japanese
HE
Best
Worst
Highly motivated with a strong
reason why they study in Japan
Poorly motivated with no
particular reason why they
come to Japan
Teaching
High Quality
Global standard
National and Regional character
Focused on professional orientation
Low Quality
Parochial
Low awareness of national
and regional culture
Superficially “universal”
Globalization
English courses sufficiently offered
Open and global system of
administration
Heavily Japanese
Way of teaching and
administration
Rise
More quality students recruited
from all over the world
Decline
Low quality int’l students
covering student underenrollment
Int’l Students
Int’l Status
13
Thank you for your attention
14
APPENDIX
15
Keio’s Global Initiatives: Three Guiding Principles

Fukuzawa’s ideals applied worldwide in all fields
Keio strives to foster highly skilled and internationally competent and
sympathetic leaders in all significant fields of human activity, including
the political, economic, academic and cultural arenas

Focused and balanced partnerships and alliances
Keio collaborates with top universities worldwide without regional bias,
while recognizing Asia, North America and Europe as the key strategic
regions

Strategic enhancement of international presence
+ Proactive use of overseas offices and satellites
+ Public relations with an international focus
16
Keio’s overseas offices and satellites:
１２ Bases
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK
Tsinghua University
Beijing, China
Yonsei University
Seoul, Korea
Keio
Academy of
New York
Beijing
Office
Seoul Office
London Office
Shanghai
Office
Singapore
KEIO-NUS
CUTE Center
San Francisco Studio
California, USA
Office ＝６ Keio Offices
17
＝6
Keio DMC Global Studios
Stanford University
California, USA
Japan Society
New York, USA
Keio’s Global Alliances (1)
APRU ( Association of Pacific-Rim Universities )
 Consortium of 41 Research Universities in the Region
 Chairman: President Yuichiro ANZAI of Keio University
 Annual President Meeting and other Various Activities of
International Education and Research
18
Keio’s Global Alliances (2) T.I.M.E. network
 T.I.M.E. is a network of 51 leading engineering schools,
faculties and technical universities
•Austria (1)
•Belgium (5)
•Brazil (1)
•Czech
Republic (1)
•Denmark (1)
•Finland (1)
•France (8)
•Germany (7)
•Greece (2)
•Hungary (1)
•Italy (4)
19
•Japan (2)
-Keio and Tohoku
•Norway (1)
•Poland (1)
•Portugal (1)
•Russian
Federation (3)
•Spain (5)
•Sweden (3)
•Switzerland (2)
•Turkey (1)
•United Kingdom
(1)
Keio’s Global Alliances (3) CEMS network
 CEMS is a network of 26 world-class academic institutions
and more than 50 corporate partners offering international
postgraduate students a unique blend of high quality education
and professional experience.
CEMS member countries: (each country can be represented by only one institution)
- Austria
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Ireland
20
- Italy
- Norway
- Poland
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- The Netherlands
- United Kingdom
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- China (Beijing)
- China (Hong Kong)
- Mexico
- Russia
- Singapore
- U.S.A.
Keio’s International Collaboration:
221 agreements with all parts of the world
Region
Asia
Middle East
May
2001
+11
January
2005
16
27
1
1
+3
January
2006
30
+1
+20
2
January
2007 +20
March
2008
50
70
2
2
+1
Africa
Oceania
North America
0
5
+1
+7
31
0
0
+2
4
+7
Europe
2
31
+27
6
38
45
3
3
58
+9
67
+1
Other
Total
21
2
88
3
+46
134
3
+22
+133 partners since 2001
1
7
7
+1
+1
Latin America
0
156
+2
+1
+6
+1
+31
47
+7
4
73
4
+6
4
187
54
79
4
+34
221
Keio’s International Collaboration:
934 Students from all over the world
International students by Source
Country (As of May 1, 2008)
International student enrollment by
affiliation
Country
(Area)
Number of Intl
students
Percen
tage
Undergraduate students
314
China
276
29.6％
Graduate students
419
Korea
260
27.8%
Taiwan
51
5.5％
U.S.A.
49
5.2％
France
38
4.1％
Thailand
29
3.1％
Indonesia
28
3.0％
Germany
18
1.9％
22
Japanese Language and other 201
short term students
Total
934
Encouraging Keio Students’ Outgoing:
Study Abroad Expansion
One-year
exchange/
scholarship
/selfpaying)
ShortTerm
Study
Abroad
Program)
Double
Degree
Program
Singapore
4
-
(4)
Austria
2
(1)
(3)
Chinese
Taipei
2
(1)
(3)
Hong Kong
3
-
(3)
(92)
Italy
3
-
(3)
2006
Total
U.S.A.
62
(116)
France
23
(65)
UK
18
(71)
(89)
New Zealand
2
-
(2)
China
12
(53)
(65)
Other
2
-
(2)
Korea
2
(42)
(44)
Turkey
2
-
(2)
14
(26)
(40)
Argentina
1
-
(1)
(20)
(20)
Belgium
1
-
(1)
10
-
(10)
Denmark
1
-
(1)
Australia
7
-
(7)
Egypt
1
-
(1)
Sweden
7
-
(7)
India
1
-
(1)
Indonesia
1
(5)
(6)
Ireland
1
-
(1)
Spain
0
(6)
(6)
Switzerland
1
-
(1)
Thailand
1
-
(1)
Mexico
0
(5)
(5)
Total
191
(412)
Germany
Syria
Canada
Netherlands
23
Norway
(178)
(4)
3
(1)
(4)
4
-
(4)
(4)
(607)
Keio’s Initiatives Celebrating the 150th Anniversary:
increasing international students
 250 million+ US dollar fundraising campaign
now in progress
 Dramatic increase in scholarships & student
housing
 “Design the Future” Award for International
Students
- 5 full scholarships awarded for non-Japanese
MA students every year
24
 600 and more rooms made available for int’l
students
Keio’s Initiatives Celebrating the 150th Anniversary:
increasing international students
 Enhanced quality and service of
Japanese language & cultural studies programs
- Single most highly regarded program run by
Japanese university since 1960’s
- Introducing new curricula to meet diversified
demands of international students
 Constant expansion of international programs
offered (5 degree & 4 double-degree)
-104 undergraduate and 185 graduate courses
now delivered in English
25