Against the backdrop of the movements towards university reform, administration of higher education institutions has attracted attention in Japan. A few research have been undertaken on such subjects as academic leadership or faculty involvement. Little attention has been paid to administrative and clerical staff despite their critical roles in university administration. My paper aims at filling the void.
University administration system in Japan is characterized by the power attached to the top layer (state or government) and to the bottom layer (academic oligarchy or faculty meeting). The middle layer (university president and its administrative staff) has been relatively weak compared with the US system. Because of this structure, Japanese universities and colleges have very few numbers of non-academic, professional and full-time staff engaged in administration. I analyzed how different constituencies conceived administrative staff and how the governmental regulations described the function of administrative staff. Also I analyzed the careers of the administrative staff at the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University. It showed that there are two typical career patterns - ones involving experiences at the Ministry of Education (Monbusho) and those without it. Educational qualifications are also varied, even though there are practically none with graduate degrees.
In the near future, the growing complexity in administration will make it inevitable to expect more contribution from the administrative and clerical staff. In order to respond to such needs, training programs at graduate level will have to be developed.
