The development of private higher education in Japan since the 1960s: A reexamination of a center-periphery paradigm

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of support and control of private universities in the process of realizing mass higher education in Japan from the 1960s. In so doing, he tries to identify the actual meaning of educational policy borrowings in the development process of a higher education system. This chapter focuses on the establishment of elite private universities that rely on a high degree of selectivity of students for their prestige. Japanese higher education is currently facing a fundamental challenge to make structural changes, in its quest to achieve the highest quality and relevance of its education and research. The chapter suggests that the characteristics of higher education in Japan prevented competition that would have led to quality improvement.