Blog 5: Japan’s Hope: If You Build It, They Will Come
There are apparently too many universities in Japan. The population of youth in Japan is
continually declining, so the article asks, why are we continuing to build more
universities? In 1992 there were about 2.05 million 18 years olds in Japan. In 2012 that number decreased to 1.5
million. What’s even more interesting is
that the number of four year universities increased from 523 to 783. According to the Ministry of Education, there
has been a lot of thought being put into creating new departments and majors
within these universities. Since 2011,
there has been an increase of over 200 departments, majors, and graduate
programs. “Since the 1990’s, more than
2,000 new academic departments and faculties have been created in Japan,
despite an aging population.” What is
happening here is that the private institutions already in existence are dwindling
in attendance, where there are currently 46% with vacant spaces. Japan
feels that by making the names of these new universities more appealing and
modern-sounding, they will attract more students and increase their youth population
and limit the empty spaces in some of these private institutions. What the article explains is that Japan can
build new universities, but has trouble getting rid of the universities they
already have that are doing poorly. Japan
hopes that they may become associated with nontraditional departments that “emphasize
forward-looking, interdisciplinary programs that fit the 21st century.” Some experts feel that all they are going to
accomplish is enrolling more students.
The issue here is that high school counselors claim their primary
complaint from students is the confusion on what some of these new modern-sounding
universities offer. In 2009 60% of 1,200
undergraduate degrees were unique.
According to the administrators involved in these new programs, they
feel that the curriculum will prepare students for changes in society. For example, students may study business modernization,
also known as “corporate innovation”, which will allow students to understand
the character of individuals within social groups in society. Some of these new programs are given these
modern-sounding names for a reason. The article
suggests how it is impossible for education to not be linked with
modernization. Japan is trying to move
forward attracting new students to prepare them and expose them “to a wide
range of disciplines including business, public policy, [and] social
psychology, with innovation as an important common thread.” According to the dean of the Hirao School of
Management at Konan University, what is most important is not what you learn,
but how you learn. Mr. Sato says that any student can take notes
and memorize and do well on tests, but this rote learning is evolving, and the
focus should be more on training students to become critical thinkers, who are
capable of exploring and discovering their own answers. “…the movement represents efforts to do thing
that traditional schools have fallen short on” according to Dean Sato. The main focus is here is preparing students
to be able to compete in a globalized and modernized society. Even more so, a third of students in
attendance at Kokushikan University (in 21st century Asian studies),
are non-Japanese, some students are from China, Iran, South Korea, and
Russia. According to one student, “’what’s
great about this school is that you can learn about other Asian cultures and
get to know the people from those cultures, and at the same time study Japanese
language and culture.’” Even though
Japan is having trouble scrapping the more traditional universities with lower
turnouts, and ironically new departments are being built because some of these
private and junior colleges are doing poorly, it seems that Japan has the
future in sight when building these new universities. They are exposing students to different
cultures, allowing them to become critical thinkers within society, and
preparing them for the modern world.
I do not agree with the rising number of universities being
built while there is such a decline in the youth population, but it seems that
there is hope for the youth population to grow with the development of these
new programs designed for the 21st century. However, I feel that with so many private institutions
falling behind, Japan should slow down a bit.
However, I couldn't agree more with an emphasis on how students learn as
opposed to what they learn. I encourage
the 21st century learning and breaking out of traditional rote
learning into more critical thinking, and culturally explicit programs for
students to globalize and modernize.
Jessica Hanley
3/1/13
3:53 p.m.
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