The Research On Postwar Reform Of Japanese Higher Educational System

Under the guidance of policies of "constructing the nation by education" and "rejuvenating the nation by science and technology", the Japanese higher education has undergone reforms aiming at democratization, individualization and intensification, which is an important factor accounting for Japan's rapid post-war economic development that established its status as the world's second largest economy. In the 60 years after the World War Two, the Japanese higher education, with the elite education as its start, has developed from the phase of masses education to that of popular education. The process presents eye-catching merits. Although Chinese higher education has stepped into the phase of popular education at present, it is simultaneously confronted with several problems. The thesis explores the university reform the Japanese higher education system implemented in the three phases in the aspects of background, policy formulation and content to discuss characteristics, merits and demerits of each phase. The thesis also probes into the problems of Chinese higher education reform by means of a comparative study on its two reforms carried out in the 1950s and the 1980s respectively. Employing the theories of Education, Comparative Education, Economics, Sociology and Management, the thesis draws several hints at Chinese higher education reform through an investigation into Japanese university reform. The hints are to formulate a perfect set of rules and policies for the higher education, build up the strategic ideology for the development of modern universities, construct the flexible operating and managing system of universities and establish the intermediate agents or organizations to coordinate the relations among government, university and society. Besides, the analysis over the defects existent in the popularization phase of Japanese higher education suggests the problems we should avoid in the popularization phase of Chinese higher education.