3. Rebuilding Japan's international competitiveness and acquiring global human resources
3.3. Challenges for the academic community
(1) Break from standardization: Globalization of universities progressed at a rapid pace in the 2000s.
As shown in Figure 6, the number of foreign students studying in Japan more than doubled from the mere 64,000 in 2000 to 138,000 in academic year 2011. The number of classes offered in English increased with the implementation of the Global COE Program (FY2007 through FY2013) aimed at enhancing education functions followed by the Project for Establishing University Network for Internationalization (Global 30: FY 2009 through FY2013) focused on the development of global human resources, and the countries of origin of the students also diversified rapidly from the traditional China, South Korea and Taiwan to include others. Universities increased the numbers of affiliates, established the double degree system,10 and enhanced their scholarships to promote the international exchange of students and faculty. There also was a large significance to the increase in the freedom of national universities as a result of becoming independent corporations. Universities equipped with an environment suitable for the development of global human resources, particularly leaders, are being appropriately selected, with the number of universities covered by the programs having been reduced from the 140 under Global COE to 30 under Global 30. Still, it cannot be said that the inefficiency of dispersion attributable to
standardization has been eliminated, given that the differentiation between private universities and national universities, where the ratio of aid per student is as high as 1:17, or between the former imperial universities and municipal universities within the public university grouping, is not clear not only in terms of research work but also education. Implementation of the so-called relaxed education led not only to an overall decline in the academic abilities of the students as of the time of acceptance, but also to a larger variance in subjects requiring gradual build up, such as mathematics and English. The time has come for universities to reach a consensus on which universities are going to take what type of students to develop them in what way, since there is no need for all universities to be besotted with the development of global human resources, especially leaders.
(2) Prioritization of curriculum reform: Universities are facing numerous and varied demands other than globalization. Instructors in charge of English classes must have "lived abroad for at least one year as an exchange student or otherwise" (example of an actual requirement specified by Waseda University). For faculty members who had never lived in English speaking countries, the requirement is a heavy burden in and of itself. Additionally, the business community is seeking emphasis on liberal art and practical education, both of which lead to the development of global human resources. Furthermore, as the admission of the relaxed-education generation began picking up, the educational burden increased to a never-before level with even engineering universities finding the provision of supplementary math classes necessary. Regardless, it is difficult to renovate the curriculum by replacing faculty under the current system, where all faculty members of a certain generation or older are essentially guaranteed tenure.
Moreover, U.S.-style emphasis on liberal arts is precondition for intensive specialized education at the graduate school level. The majority of Asian countries are leaning toward this system; even China is no longer an exception. In the case of Japan, however, going on to a graduate school will involve the risk of becoming unemployable, unless the business community works on the proactive recruitment of graduate degree holders. It became possible to take graduate-level courses at the undergraduate level in recent years to obtain a master's degree by adding one year onto the undergraduate program. Based on the assumption that a large number of students will not proceed beyond the undergraduate level, universities cannot afford the luxury of spending all four years on liberal arts education only and must concurrently provide some specialized education that is far from being complete. In the end, because changes to the undergraduate curriculum involve external factors, such as the way education through high school is designed and reform of graduate schools,
it appears that the only thing that can be done at this stage is to prioritize and specialize in basic education necessary for the development of global human resources.
Figure 6: Changes in foreign students accepted into Japan
Source: Japan Student Services Organization
(3) Re-examination of the roles of graduate schools: Graduate schools have been more directly exposed to the impact of globalization than universities. Given that Japan is about the only Asian country where a master's degree is not accorded a premium by the business community and that students elsewhere are therefore highly motivated to study abroad, there has been an increase in the number of graduate schools where a majority of the students are from overseas. It can be said that the active recruitment of study-abroad students by companies has been positive for graduate schools, at least for the time being. Yet, the fact that the business community still perceives Japanese graduate degree holders as being research oriented and still has a tendency to avoid them, particularly those with degrees in the humanities, is a major factor inhibiting the utilization of law schools and accounting schools. Graduate schools should play a larger role than universities in
supplying global human resources and may need to appeal to the business community about their curriculum reform, as well as make efforts to hold dialogues with the business community, considering the shaping of careers for their students to be synonymous with the generation of their own assets.
Even if students find employment once after completing their undergraduate program, they often find the need for graduate level education due to business reasons or for personal career development. Many companies enhanced their training and education systems during the bubble, resulting in an increase in the number of employees sent overseas by their companies for MBA programs. However, it is said that the number of Japanese, including businessmen, studying at top- class graduate schools in the United States has declined in recent years. Since it is believed that there is a large potential demand for opportunities to receive graduate-level education while working, not necessarily overseas, it can be said that, in terms of developing global human resources, it is indispensable for graduate schools to work on the recurrent education of Japanese employees.