Private Colleges And Universities Play A Leading Role: Study On Development Of Mass Higher Education In Japan

In development of mass higher education,Japan had the uniqueness of catching up with the others,the leading role of private colleges and universities,rapid development and great influence and had a different development path with other countries.Based on the collection and analysis of historical literature,the study used the methods of combining quantify and determination on the nature and comparative approach to research mass higher education and explored the changes of scale and quality in development of mass higher education.The study also expanded the topic content of the development history of post-war higher education and analyzed the law and development model in development of mass higher education in Japan to provide reference for the reform of higher education system in China.Mass higher education in Japan began in 1963 and ended in 1999.In the development of mass higher education,The scale of national university,public university,private universities,short-term college and higher specialized school were expanding,but private universities played the main role and developed rapidly.Each stage of the development of mass higher education was dominant.The number of universities and students were far higher than the national university and public university and the impact was still present.Now the number of Japanese private colleges and universities and students account for more than 70% of the total.Under the influence of international and domestic factors,Mass higher education in Japan existed the phenomenon that "quantitative index" and "prescriptive quality " were not completely synchronized.The transformation of higher education revolved around changes in the basic points of quantify and quality.Private colleges and universities Played a leading role which was taked as the center.Under the mutual coordination of the basic points of scale and quality,Mass higher education experienced three stages: rapid expansion period,intensive development period and stable growth period.From 1963 to 1970,Mass higher education in Japan developed mainly in scale.Combining with social status in quo of the rapid growth of economy,the prevalence of education investment theory,the expansion of the middle class in Japanese society and the diversification of secondary education,The Japanese government put forward an expansion plan for science and engineering talents and revised and relaxed the conditions of founding a university.The student population in private colleges and universities increased rapidly.The number of academic departments and disciplines also expanded considerably.Mass higher education entered a period of rapid expansion which mainly focused on the expansion of quantitative scale.At the same time,there are some problems in higher education,such as goal with the bias towards utilitarian,one-sided selection criteria of entrance examination,inadequate,unevenly distributed educational resources.At this stage the development of mass higher education showed the following characteristics: Private colleges and universities play a leading role,The horizontal scale of universities expanded rapidly,Vocational schools developed remarkably,science and engineering majors comprised a large proportion of expansion.On the whole,Mass higher education in the quantity reached the popular standard But there was still a gap in quality.From 1971 to 1983,Mass higher education in Japan developed mainly in the improvement of quality.Under the background of prominent social problems such as the decline of economic growth rate due to the oil crisis and fewer children,The difficulty of employment of excess college graduates and the third educational reform.Policies such as?Comprehensive Extension and Rectification of School Education in the Future?and?Opinions on the Issue of Higher Academic Qualifications?were put forward one after another.The Japanese government promulgated a series of laws to aid and control private colleges and universities and saved the quality crisis brought by the rapid expansion of the scale of higher education in the previous stage.Japan paid more attention to the all-round development of people in the goal of higher education,established the unified entrance examination system,improved teacher teaching and curriculum content and strengthened the internal and external management of colleges and universities.Growth in the number of universities in Japan slowed.Enrollment in higher education fell intermittently.Discipline was merging with professional structures.The Intensive development period of mass higher education was characterized by the vertical multi-level development of universities and the increasing proportion of applied humanities and social sciences.From 1984 to 1999,Mass higher education in Japan developed steadily.Under the effect of globalization and new liberalism,Japanese social classes tended to be equal.The trend of lifelong education and learning society was strengthened.The number of private colleges and universities increased in an orderly way.National university and public university developed steadily.Enrollment in universities rose steadily.Discipline types tended to cross and merge.The structure and quality of higher education in Japan also was improved.The concept of Japanese higher education tended to individuality and innovation.The selection system for admission was varied and flexible.Talent training tended to be open and comprehensive.The strength of college teachers was improved.Management and evaluation mechanism was more professional refinement.It was characterized by balancing the development of quantity and quality,deepening the social service function of higher education,and integrating higher education into the lifelong education system.By 1999 Japanese higher education achieved the stipulation of the popularization stage in terms of quality and quantity.the gross enrolment rate of higher education in Japan had exceeded 50%,completing the perfect step from the stage of Massification to the stage of popularization.Based on the dual higher education structure,The dvelopment path of mass higher education was characteristic.Private colleges and universities play important role.Japan constructed non-traditional and multi-level higher education which made the mass education and elite education coexist.In 2020,Chinese higher education has realized the transformation from massification to popularization.However,the remaining problems still need to be solved such as the decline of education level.The difficulty in employment for college graduates and the low value of degree caused by mass higher education.Drawing lessons from Japan,Chinese higher education should establish the development idea of paying equal attention to quantity and quality in reform in future and fully tap the potential of private colleges and universities.Universities should take into account the needs of the public when expanding their scale.The government should guarantee the quality of higher education in the development of mass higher education in time.Higher education needs to change from comprehensive expansion to scientific development.In this way,Chinese higher education can not only meet the quantitative index of massification,but also achieve the quality standards,and smoothly connect to the stage of popularization and develop steadily.