University General Education Curriculum Research

General education is one of the ideals of university education. The implement of education depends on courses, general education is not an exception. It is a process from ideal to reality. So the realization of general education needs not only a large amount of research on the ideal of general education, but also exploration of general education curriculum.This dissertation is a research on general education curriculum in Japanese universities, which reviews the experience of Japanese universities offering general education curriculum. The dissertation analyzes how the general education courses were introduced into Japanese universities, how them naturalized as well as developed further in historical horizon. At the same time, the dissertation studies how the government policy, social environments, economic conditions and educational system affect general education curriculum in every history period.The innovation of Japanese general education curriculum concerns mainly about three problems as follows:(1)The purpose andconnotation of general education;(2)The relationship between general education curriculum and professional education curriculum; (3)The relationship between the university structure and general education curriculum. These three problems interact each other, which forms the core conception of general educational innovation every time in Japan. The innovation of Japanese general education emphasizes thatthe connotation of general education expands with the development of society, and the relationship between general education curriculum and professional education curriculum is the core problem in innovation. The organizational structure of university has a direct impact on the manner of how to set general education curriculum.More than half a century ago, general education curriculum was introduced into Japanese universities. There are a lot of curriculum modes in many universities through their practice and exploration. On the basis of studying these curriculum modes and analyzing their characteristics, forming conditions and disadvantages, we can take its positive experiences, which must benefit the development of general education in Chinese universities.University education is a very complex system, so the research on the theory of general education curriculum cannot be limited in the problems within curriculum, it should take social environment, economic structure, educational system and school management into account. According to the comprehensive study in the general education curriculum in Japanese universities, summarizing experience and disadvantages, it would help Chinese universities to construct their general education curriculum.