Search - universities

 
 
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Dec 27, 2001

Top schools eye uneasy alliance with private sector

The agenda of top-flight domestic schools such as the University of Tokyo is changing along with the turbulent economic climate.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 24, 2014

Japan's universities can't win

In view of the disparity in professors' pay between Japanese and American universities, the notion of elevating Japanese universities' global rankings simply by bringing in outstanding 'foreign talent' as instructors and researchers is a castle in the sky.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 22, 2014

University is not a business

Members of the Industrial Competitiveness Council and others are headed down a dead-end road trying to remake the governance of Japan's universities after that of business corporations.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 27, 2017

Teachers and schools in Japan brace for icebergs in 2018

After a year of scandals and promises, the 'five-year rule' and demographic woes cast a shadow over education in 2018.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 3, 2015

Universities fending off attacks on the liberal arts

As discussed last week, in June the education ministry sent a directive to all 86 national universities in Japan, apparently calling on them to abolish or reorganize their humanities and social sciences departments.
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2007

Rural universities feel pinch of lower enrollments

Hagi International University in Yamaguchi Prefecture filed for court protection from creditors in June 2005, owing ¥3.7 billion after the number of freshmen enrollments and students declined sharply.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 15, 2020

Japan boosts checks on Chinese students amid fears of campus spying

Compared to a crackdown by Washington, measures by Tokyo are baby steps, but many believe it is vital to follow the U.S. lead in order to safeguard Japan's universities.
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2015

University autonomy under fire

Education minister Hakubun Shimomura and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are moving dangerously close to trampling on the academic independence of universities.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 28, 2008

Foreign students to fill the halls

Rie Yoshinaga had a wide range of colleges to choose from.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G20 Osaka Summit Special
Jun 27, 2019

Universities lure foreign students on falling population

Universities conducting classes in English, intellectual debates between foreign and Japanese students where new ideas are created — these are just some of the things the central government envisions for the nation's higher education in order to become a magnet for talented researchers and students...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jul 5, 2017

Spoken English tests among entrance exam reforms Japan's students will face in 2020

Upcoming changes to Japanese university admissions have students, parents and teachers raising their hands to ask questions.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 25, 2017

Education in Japan in 2016: new solutions and age-old problems, from teaching English to bullying

With schools well into their final term and the university academic year already winding down it's time to reflect on the most significant events in Japanese education this past year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 2, 2016

Raising university rankings

The quality of an educational institution is determined by the skills and abilities of the teachers and their educational philosophy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2013

Place university academics on an annual wage system

In academics as in other fields, traditional Japanese systems and practices are hampering the nation's globalization.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2013

Foreign colleges feel globalization-excluded

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pursues deregulation, the "third arrow" of his "Abenomics" economic plan, Temple University's Japan campus is closely watching to see if he will create a more favorable situation for foreign schools here by granting them the same tax perks and credits as Japanese universities,...
COMMENTARY
Jun 9, 2010

Universities' risky business

Effective April 1 — the start of the new academic year — I became president of Shiga University, a "national university corporation" near Lake Biwa in Japan's Kansai region. It is a relatively small institute consisting only of the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Economics.
COMMENTARY
Nov 1, 2004

Universities lack will to reform

Half a year has passed since Japan's national universities gained corporate status. The aim of the incorporation, initially at least, was to make university management efficient. What has changed, or has not changed, in substance? How much progress toward efficiency has been made, or is likely to be...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2022

Japan to set up ¥10 trillion university fund to boost support for research

The fund will give several tens of billions of yen per year to each of the universities in order to enhance their research capabilities.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2018

How Japan can attract more students from overseas

The market for studying abroad is booming, and with the right plan universities in Japan can easily enroll more international students.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2017

Capping enrollment in Tokyo

Only capping the enrollment capacity at universities in Tokyo will not guarantee that more youths will choose schools outside of the metropolitan area.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 29, 2015

Flawed entrance exam reform

The education ministry's effort to reform the university entrance exam system has serious flaws.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2014

Plans don't make the grade

Don't count on the education ministry's plan to hire more foreign teachers and students to have much effect on its goal of getting at least 10 Japanese universities to place among the world's top 100.
Japan Times
JAPAN / SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
Mar 30, 2004

Universities face brave new world of autonomy, competition

The academic year that begins Thursday will mark a new era for national universities, which will be cut loose from the fetters of the education ministry and gain independent administrative institution status.
For all the scrutiny at home, many of China’s richest new grads are turning their backs on their lives abroad. Sometimes, they’re responding to the lure of China’s potential. Other times, it’s the alienation they feel overseas.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 22, 2023

China’s wealthy youth flock home as tensions with U.S. rise

For all the scrutiny at home, many of China’s richest new grads are turning their backs on their lives abroad.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay testifies before a United States House of Representatives hearing on antisemitism in American campuses on Dec. 5.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2023

U.S. campus antisemitism debate muddles nuances of free speech

The debate on antisemitism in U.S. campuses doesn’t lend itself to easy answers. What is free speech and what harmful conduct is down to context.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson calls on USC President Carol Folt to convene an emergency student dialogue for the protest encampment in support of Palestinians at the University of Southern California's Alumni Park in Los Angeles on April 29.
WORLD
May 6, 2024

Police clear pro-Palestinian encampment at USC

The demonstrations have emerged as a political flash point during a contentious election year as President Joe Biden seeks a second term in office.
Signs expressing opposition to the University of Tokyo's proposed tuition hikes are displayed at the university's Komaba campus in Tokyo in July.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 11, 2024

University of Tokyo plans to raise tuition fees by 20% in 2025

The university expects to make the proposal official by the end of September, barring unforeseen issues.
Students at Hiroshima University’s School of Dentistry offer silent prayers for the donors of bodies before they practice anatomy on the cadavers in late October.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Chugoku
Dec 16, 2024

In death, body donors become silent teachers for medical students

Practical training on cadavers significantly increases the understanding of the human body, says one professor.
Students in South Korea sit the annual College Scholastic Ability Test. There is huge pressure on this exam, which determines young people's university choices and, in turn, their job and even marital prospects, leading to a heavy mental health burden.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2025

Entrance exam wars: A pressure cooker for South Korean youth

South Korea comes to a standstill on the day of the national university entrance exam. But so does students' possibility to determine their future paths beyond a mere test score.
Harvard University's campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sept. 6.
WORLD
Apr 1, 2025

Harvard at risk of losing $9 billion in federal funds amid U.S. review

The move is part of a crackdown on what the Trump administration says is antisemitism on college campuses.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan