Educational and Public Accountability of Higher Education Institutions in Case of National Universities in Japan

Abstract

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are now faced with profound changes which have diffused around the world. Owing to massification in higher education, crucial role in ‘knowledge society’ and marketization coupled with globalization, HEIs have been given more institutional autonomy in management. However, the increased autonomyhas been introduced by exchange of strengthen external accountability to the society and the public through an instrument of evaluation, quality assurance and funding etc. Corporatization for national universities in Japan is also placed on this trend, although the transformation is considered a hybrid of education reform and public sector reform. Analyzing the activities and behavior of the stakeholders like universities, government and society, we will examine whether or not the new scheme would result in successful outcomes through accountability mechanism. Also a new framework for analyzing accountability of HEIs will be shown.