Hiromitsu Muta

Deregulation and decentralization of education in Japan

Japan in the late nineteenth century centralized its institutions, including education, in order to catch up with the Western industrialized nations. However, in the late twentieth century, in order to maintain its competitive edge as a world leader in the economic globalization process, the national leadership instituted a series of reforms to deregulate and decentralize the educational system. The objective is to provide sufficient flexibility and local control at the school level that creativity, individual initiative, and the spirit of entrepreneurship will become part of the teaching/learning process for each new generation of Japanese students. However, it is difficult to change the mindset of those who deal with reform. It is odd that deregulation and decentralization have been implemented in a uniform manner by conveying the orders of governments.

The Economics of the University of the Air of Japan Revisited

In 1988 UAJ completed the first phase of its initial plan, thus enabling an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of UAJ and a forecast of its future based on available data. The cost per student at UAJ is 2/5, 1/2, and 3/4 of that at national, public, and day programs of private universities, and 1.1 times and 6.7 times of that at evening and correspondence programs of private universities repectively. The projected cost per graduate is slightly lower than that at national universities and 1.1, 1.9 and 2.3 times of that at public, correspondence and day, and evening programs of private universities respectively. The cost per credit is 1.3, 1.5, 2.2, 2.4 and 4.6 times of national and public universities, day, evening, and correspondence programs of private universities respectively.The simulations indicate that the cost per credit can be decreased by expanding the operation of UAJ to a nationwide scale, employing a surface circuit or satellite system; however, it is necessary that the number of students be doubled in order to make the cost per credit equivalent to that at public universities. However, even when the number of students is four times, the cost per credit is not equivalent to that at day programs of private universities regardless of what method is used. Although the current cost per credit is higher than that of conventional universities, changes in cummunication technology and student characteristics could alter the cost-effectiveness of UAJ.

Comprehensive cost analysis of the University of the Air of Japan

The University of the Air of Japan (UAJ) was established to provide all people access to university level education. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate from several different perspectives the cost-effectiveness of UAJ and its nationwide expansion.Even when considering only direct cost, the per student cost of UAJ is lower than that of any conventional campus-based university program. When indirect cost such as opportunity cost and study expenses are also considered, the economic advantage of UAJ is especially apparent. Much of UAJs economic advantage is the result of the very low opportunity cost to UAJ students.The economic advantage of UAJ as indicated by cost per graduate and cost per credit is smaller than that indicated by cost per student. When both direct and indirect cost are considered, the cost per credit of UAJ is 0.51 and 0.53 of that at national and public universities; 0.65, 0.86 and 2.8 of that of day programs, evening programs and correspondence programs respectively at private universities.Simulations of a nationwide expansion demonstrate that UAJ will be more economical if a satellite broadcasting system is used. Although it will require high initial and fixed costs, the cost per credit will decrease with an increase in the number of students. The most economical method of expansion may be to send video tapes to study centers and students until the number of students reaches economical levels, and to increase cooperation with conventional universities in the cooperative use of classrooms for study centers and credit transfer.

Higher education policy and freshman migration in Japan

Due to the national policy of university and junior college decentralization and private education subsidy, the enrollment capacity in big cities has decreased while that in provincial areas has relatively increased to make the competition to enter universities and colleges more keen in big cities. Thus the rate of students continuing to study at universities and colleges has declined in big cities and increased in provincial areas to decrease the disparity among regions, but as a result the national average of the above rate has declined. If the decentralization policy continues to be practiced, the rate of students continuing to study at universities and colleges will not increase. On the other hand the national average of such a rate will increase but the gap among regions will also increase if the enrollment capacity of big cities is increased.

Analysis of policies for allocating university resources in heterogeneous social systems: a case study of university admissions in Sri Lanka

This paper focuses on the complex nature of designing andeffectively implementing policies, assuring fair access to universityeducational opportunities in heterogeneous societies. First, the universityadmission problem is modeled as a load balancing, scheduling and resourceallocation problem in a heterogeneous distributed system with policies toallocate student loads in university resources. Then the paper analyses thedifferent policies implemented in Sri Lanka for the last three decades todistribute the limited university level training resources in theengineering and medical faculties equally among the citizens.It is observed that in Sri Lanka, the schools in thirteen out of twentytwo districts did not produce a single engineering or medicine student until1974. Two districts enjoyed several times their fair share. Other districtshad less than their fair share in access to free higher education resources.It is also observed that no standardisation methods have been used in bothadding and comparing the marks received in multiple-language examinationsfor different subjects.The policy changes helped the talented low-income students who live indisadvantaged areas to set access, to begin, complete and get ahead on theirown. Furthermore, it generated a new wave of regional economic development.The same policies badly affected the happy few who enjoyed more than theirfair share of the university resources. Dube claimed the policy wasdiscriminatory and contributed to the on-going civil war (1995) .