Challenging the traditional organization of Japanese universities

This essay examines how Japaneseresearch universities have changed from anorganizational perspective over the past tenyears. First, Japan has modified graduateeducation to better compete with othercountries. The traditional undergraduateschool-centered system has been changed toinclude a focus on graduate education. Sincegraduate schools are more sensitive to changesin and generation of new knowledge, this newfocus affects various areas of universities,including the status of professors. Second,universities have become loosely coupledsystems as a result of recent reforms, such asintroducing a ``large' chair system and theseparation of teaching and research. This neworganizational structure makes universitiesmore flexible and more receptive to furtherreforms. Finally, the loosely coupledstructure of Japanese universities requires thecreation and standardization of universityculture. The introduction of newvice-president positions will contribute to theformation of university identity rather thanstrengthen of governance systems.