The Expansion of Higher Education and the Diversification of Students

The Arguments in Japan Compared with Those of the U. K.

Abstract

　 The aim of this paper is to explore the notion of the diversification of students in higher education in Japan compared with those of the U. K. focusing on the government council reports issued in the 1960s and in the 2000s. Both periods correspond to those of higher education expansion in Japan. In the 1960s in Japan, a brake was put on the expansion of students because the nature of higher education as the sector responsible for training the elite was being damaged due to the increase in the number of less able students. Specifically, students were regarded as those who were selected on the basis of meritocratic principles. In the 2000s, although it became difficult to stick to meritocratic principles as the basis of student selection, the meritocratic notion remained dominant in arguments put forward in the University Council and the Central Council for Education.

　 This situation is totally different from the arguments put forward in the U. K., where emphasis has been put since the 1960s on the expansion of opportunities for the underprivileged social class to access higher education, and policy implementation has reflected this trend.