Autonomous Management Actions of Universities in Japan:

Functions and Roles of the Administrative Organization

Abstract

  Japanese universities are being required to make more autonomous management decisions than ever before. This roundtable was a discussion about the characteristics of administrative organizations which contribute highly toward autonomous management in universities from the perspective of making universities more autonomous. This idea has been developed in previous studies in the United States and other countries. The discussion expanded upon the definition of autonomy and current status at the participantsʼ workplaces, so it was not possible to verify the validity of the questionnaire survey items; however, it was confirmed that the notion of university autonomy manifests in diverse forms and a uniform discussion about it is difficult. Additionally, the validity of selecting interview survey targets was verified through seven keywords (faculty-staff collaboration, branding, admissions reform, high school-university connections, IR, administrative office, and staff).