Akiyoshi Yonezawa Akiyoshi Yonezawa is assistant professor in the Research Institute for Higher Education at Hiroshima University.
Japan has one of the largest systems of private higher education in the world.
Although private institutions receive about 10 percent of their financial resources from public funding, most public expenditure on higher education is allocated to the national and local public universities. Within the national government, there are two different positions on higher education reform. On the one hand, the Ministry of Education has overall responsibility for the operation of the national universities and for the administration of local public and private universities. Therefore, the ministry is attempting to strengthen the quality assessment system for national and local public institutions as well as for private universities, in accordance with its bureaucratic orientation. On the other hand, other parts of government, such as the prime minister's office, respond more to the corporate sector's demands for privatization and deregulation of public services.