Japan-Nordic Symposium

On the Frontier of University Evaluation-Making the Most of Nordic Successes-

Summary and Closing Address
Akihiko Kawaguchi

Vice-President, NIAD-UE131

Kato: We now move to the last item on the program, a summary of today’s symposiumand closing comments by Vice-President Kawaguchi from NIAD-UE.
Kawaguchi: Thank you for your introduction. Once again I take the floor—please bearwith me just a little longer.
This Japan-Nordic Symposium today was held on the theme “On the Frontier ofUniversity Evaluation—Making the Most of Nordic Successes.” In contrast to the poor
conditions we experienced up until yesterday, the weather has turned out very well, andI am extremely grateful that were able to hold the symposium under such conditions.
I would like to thank you for finding time in your busy schedules to come here today,and for the contributions so many of you made to the long and lively discussions wehave had. In particular, as I mentioned earlier, we were not able to spare enough timefor questions. However at the end we were able to take quite a few questions, and I hope
you feel a little more satisfied now.
I would like to convey our special thanks to Dr. Thune and all other panelists who madetime in their hectic schedules to join us here on stage today. We appreciate yourimmense understanding and cooperation with today’s proceedings, right through fromthe preparatory stage. Thank you very much.
Discussions today have centered on evaluation in Japanese higher education
institutions, issues of reform and improvement through evaluation, and accountability
to wider society. I would be interested to know your thoughts on today’s proceedings. I
hope that you were able to gain some idea of possible directions for university
evaluation here in Japan and how the results of evaluation should be utilized.
I think today’s symposium provided a very valuable opportunity to consider how todevelop a culture of evaluation—an issue that we ourselves are advocating—and to takea leading role in developing systems of quality assurance for higher education
institutions in this country. As I said a moment ago, the Nordic countries have been
engaging these issues for five or ten years longer than we have: that is why weorganized this symposium.
On a personal note, when I was studying at Harvard University about thirty years ago,

133I lived near a family from Sweden who I came to know well. We visited each other’shouses and shared many frank conversations. I still have a clear recollection of what wetalked about. Because we were living in the U.S., we exchanged views on how the U.S.
was perceived in Japan, or how Japan was viewed from a Swedish perspective. These
conversations made me realize that although Japan and Sweden are very far apart both
culturally and geographically, our perceptions of the United States were very similar.
So in that sense, I thought the Nordic countries had many interesting features, and I
also had access to information that suggested they were quite advanced in terms ofuniversity evaluation. So last year we began visiting the five countries of the region,and this year had observer status at the annual meeting of NOQA, which wasmentioned this morning. We found many commonalities with our experiences in Japan.
Earlier there was a question from the floor about the distinctive features of the Nordic
experience: certainly, it is similar in many ways.
As I said earlier, however, there are also points of difference. I feel that Japan has a lot
to learn from the way Nordic countries are utilizing the results of university evaluation.
Although these countries are far from Japan and have different cultures and education
systems from us, there is a high degree of commonality in the area of evaluation. I havemade this point in my closing remarks because I would like you to contemplate it as you
leave the symposium today.
We recognized that Nordic countries’ experiences could provide important hints when
considering future directions for the evaluation services provided by our institution.
That provided the rationale for this symposium. I also believe the symposium is going toprovide a catalyst for further exchange of information and sharing of experiences. I
think this will be crucial for us in the future.
It is about three years now since we began interaction with our Nordic colleagues on theissue of evaluation. We will continue to watch the Nordic countries and other parts ofEurope as they develop their quality assurance initiatives. I think this was a goodopportunity to grasp the importance of quality assurance and to consider how we canrealize it in the Asian context to contribute to an enhancement of our knowledge-basedsociety.
However, this symposium is no more than a starting point. It is important that we work134

together from now on to realize a better society for stakeholders in our different regions,countries, and even across national borders. I am sure that this will lead to an ongoingcooperative relationship between our different regions and countries.
I personally believe that our two different parts of the world share a very similar
mindset, and that it would be very worthwhile for us to join together in developing
partnerships in the higher education field. It would bring unexpected happiness to us asorganizers if today’s symposium helps to promote goodwill and contributes to thedevelopment of higher education in our two regions.
Now, I would like to make use of this opportunity to do some marketing for ourinstitution. We already have plans in place to hold another symposium in two months’
time, at the end of November, this time with representatives from university evaluation
bodies in China. This is part of a series we have been operating since last year on“university evaluation in Asia,” in which we invite Asian colleagues to discuss issues ofquality assurance in our region. Last year we held a symposium on the topic ofuniversity evaluation in Taiwan. This will be the second in the series, and we lookforward to the opportunity to interact with our counterparts from China.
This next symposium will be on the topic of quality assurance in Chinese higher
education, but in the future we hope that our institution will be able to play a leadingrole in quality assurance not just domestically or in China, but throughout the Asianregion. We look forward to your ongoing support for our activities.
I will conclude my address by saying once again that we are extremely grateful to therepresentatives of the five Nordic countries who joined us here today, as well as to thosefrom Japanese institutions of higher education, and to all others who took the trouble toattend this symposium. Thank you very much.
Kato: Thank you for joining us at this Japan-Nordic Symposium, “On the Frontier ofUniversity Evaluation—Making the Most of Nordic Successes.” This concludes ourprogram for today. Thank you very much.
We ask for your cooperation in filling out your questionnaire sheets before leaving. Your
completed questionnaires will be collected by staff at the exit. Also, please leave yoursimultaneous interpretation receivers at your seats. A reception will be held in the135

Reception Hall on the second floor, starting at 5:15. Everyone in the audience is warmly
invited to attend. All those who will not be joining us for the reception are reminded totake all their belongings with them when they leave.
Thank you very much.

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