日本における公立大学の管理運営に関する研究

設置者に着目して

抄録

　 The idea of the transfer of the administration of national universities to local governments was not adopted in the Japanese post-war period. One of the objections to this idea was the lack of administrative competence among local governments. Though this may have led to the problem of the administration of present public (prefectural and municipal) universities, there have been few studies on the subject. The examination of the administration or management of public universities has gained increasing importance in recent times, because more and more new public universities have been established recently.

　 Therefore, this paper examines the administration of Japanese public universities, focusing on the internal aspect of local governments after surveying the legal authority relationship between public universities and local governments. In each local government the division taking charge of universities is small ; there is no bureau or section of higher education. Especially in most municipal universities, administration at the institutional level connotes the functions of education divisions in local governments. That is, the administrative chief of a university must negotiate directly with the finance authorities and the head of the local government.

　 Based on such organizational features, I challenge this decision-making style. Though political decisions are essential, higher education, including university education, does not always arouse political interest. From the business angle, bureaucratic decisions make up for political ones. In the higher education policy of local governments, however, the active functions of bureaucracy are not necessarily noticeable. Therefore, in public universities, administrators at the institutional level must play an integrating role for the universities in the area concerned.