In Japan, the Min. of Edcuation and Science has selected 37 universities for Super Global Universities and Global Universities. They would get special subsidy of from 1 to 5 million USD per a year. Those universities have been "relatively" wealthy due to their size, fame and history. This special subsidy won't mean much for their budget size. It also requires them to lead to any visible result in certain period. It would hardly help them bringing up the basic science, which often takes a long time to produce any meaningful result.
On the other hand, the authority has been reducing the subsidy to the universities by 1% every year. The above mentioned special subsidy would be an excuse to reduce further the subsidy to the other universities. I often heard they have been hard up for the finance at the other universities. Less number of the staff, less budget for research and so forth.
In addition, they are told to diminish or convert the fundamental studies like philosophy to any other subjects, that are more pragmatic for profit. What a shortsighted view! In our country, we don't have much natural resources. The only social resource is highly educated people. Real cutting edge as well as unique innovation comes from basic research in subjects like math or philosophy etc. This wrong policy of the administrative organ would make the high education, and eventually our country itself, face to further crisis.
In the U.S, government support for "public" universities has gone down. Many (if not all) U.S. states have cut back substantially. Fortunately, private contributions (and tuition costs) have increased. As an example, in Virginia, where I attended undergraduate college, the state has cut back funding so much that the "Big Three" in terms of public support, William and Mary, UVA, and Virginia Tech, have public funding in the high single digits (UVA) and the teens (W&M and VT). But the state continues to want to have control over the schools in certain key ways: tuition increases, regent selection, etc. Like you said, the intellectual "capital" of the people is the most important contribution to good governance and reaching the full potential of the people. The resource rich countries like Russia and the Gulf oil and gas states often have lousy, controlled, authoritan governments. In the U.S, the most enlightened states are the ones with educated populations. States with poorly educated people and/or great fossil fuel wealth often are dominated by wealth-dominated governments. Japan has been an example of good governance since the war, becoming a world leader based on intellectual developments. I hope that it continues.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Jim. In the US, I am afraid, the tuition of private schools is generally too expensive for ordinary people to study. Is it because of the cut back of the budget for subsidey from the fed government? I know some good students could get some scholarship. But the other ordinary ones without scholarship get loan from somewhere, don't they?
DeleteEducation should be one of the mutual social capital, which must be free from control by any parties or classes. I believe our system has been in good shape since the end of the WWII. recently, however, the administration bureaucrats seem to govern the education by a variety of means, I am afraid. Universities without liberal arts are impossible. Liberal arts and basic science studies are the base of university. Neglecting those subjects may deteriorate the quality of the education and the developement of applied science.
The business circles and the bureaucrats seem to want to govern the education, I am afraid. Then Japan would become like Russia and the middle East countries without natural resources.