Higher Education is Playing Catch-up: Case File Japan Malcolm Field

1. Higher Education is Playing Catch-up: Case File JapanMalcolm Field

2. What are 5 key "things" 18 year olds today will need as "assets" - for their society, company and/or family within 5-1o years?

3. What are 5 key "things" HE institutions should do to prepare 18 y.o for their futures in 5-10 years?

4. HE is in paradigmatic crisis • ubiquity of smaller and more mobile technology • reduction in government expenditure with an increased focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math); • continued polarized debates about classroom practice; • increased pressure on academic faculty (incl. additional administrative loads); • performance evaluations based on teaching, research and community service; • an expanding presence of international and domestic rankings on institutional performance (a reflection of the academic staff??)

5. This is a departure from the historical state-sponsored approach (e.g. Britain, Europe and Australia) toward an entrepreneurial (U.S.A. Ivy League approach) or new public management model (such as the National Corporations Law in Japan).

6. institutions need to recognise the new opportunities made possible through the intellectual, political, economic and technological changes to develop new possibilities to new constituents. • HE needs to capitalise on the “traditional values” by blending them with the emerging future-potentials to create “valuable capabilities” (Trubek, 2001 p.311).

7. Roadblocks • Rankings • STEM • Academic faculty • Teaching • Internationalization • Government

8. Asian universities are expanding and improving on all global rankings • Singapore, Hong Kong, and Peking Universities and several Korean and Taiwanese institutions have led to a “ranking free-fall” for some Japanese universities • rankings do not show the complete story. • firstly, excellent teaching-based institutions producing quality in-demand creative and competitive students, but the institutions do not publish or research as much as others • Similarly, high research output is not synonymous with quality teaching and education • Secondly, “academic excellence, research productivity and reputation… are not zero-sum games” (Altbach, 2010, p.38).

9. Case File: Japan • 141 national, 105 public and 955 private HE institutions • 20% of university students attend national universities, 4.4% public institutions and 75.6% attend the private colleges and universities

10. Courses Studied (MEXT, 2006)

11. other factors often not considered is Japan’s shrinking population.

12. Way forward - curriculum • World is different (truism yet we don't walk the talk) • FD in teaching & learning • Physical spaces • CT across the curriculum • STEM must be in conjunction with Liberal Arts • Project-based, real-world, problem-based approaches

13. Way forward - rankings • Evaluation is essential but must be meaningful • 360 degree evaluation • Educate society and industry • Student output - i.e. research, community projects, ODA, innovative practices, mobility, etc • Evaluated according to institutional focus - i.e. research-based, teaching-focused, community-centered, etc. • Projects, real-world, problems solved, not just Nobel Prizes, publications, etc

14. Way forward - internationalize • % of courses offered in global language • Faculty required international experience • Administrative procedures • Objective is internationalization not localization of internationals (though an important component) • STEM and Liberal Arts accepted globally - like IB • Fiscal support for student and staff mobility

15. Way forward - faculty & students • FD in entrepreneurial skills • FD in teaching & learning • Allow career paths with equality (Asia focus more than US, Aust., etc) • % of grants must be for community application or support • diversity • Project-based, real-world, problem-based approaches

17. Kyorin University Initiative • study-abroad experience mandatory • combination of existing and new faculty • support (??) for international students • relocation to new campus in urban Tokyo • provision of an “international” domestic experience for students with financial difficulties • combining Social Science Faculty and Foreign Language Faculty • majority of courses in new curriculum will be taught in English or Chinese • establishing agreements with universities outside Japan that will accept Kyorin students into credit bearing courses • The MOUs are not limited to the traditional exchange partners

18. My 5 key "things" 18 year olds today will need as "assets": • knowledge of a STEM with a Liberal Arts base • Creative Thinking (including Critical Thinking) • Entrepreneurial mindset • Cultural savvy (national, business, international) - including proficiency in a global language • Community support

19. My 5 key "things" HE institutions should do to prepare 18 y.o for their futures in 5-10 years: • fund STEM research that has a Liberal Arts interdisciplinary approach • Develop Creative Thinking (including Critical Thinking) across ALL curricula • Require FD/SD Entrepreneurial research leave • Internationalize ALL areas of the institution - including faculty, staff, students, administration procedures and creating a global curriculum standard • Community work should be equal to research