University Management under Market Competition

Abstract

　 This paper discusses how the internal decision-making structure of the university has been changed by increased competition among universities due to the decline of the 18 year-old population and how parents, who have long supported university education by paying expensive tuition fees for their children, have changed their attitudes toward university education. For them, children are no longer “treasures of the family,” but “burdens of the family.” Parents are not willing to sacrifice their own quality of life to pay for “useless” education. Consequently, Japanese higher education is now losing its financial basis for existence and survival.

　 Increased competition among universities has changed the relationship between faculty members and university managers. At many universities, a topdown administrative style has been introduced instead of a decision-making style through the faculty meeting. The faculty has lost its power to university managers in the decision-making process. This change has been introduced for effective and quick decision-making by university administration to respond to the changeable environment faced by universities. Before this kind of reform, the faculty, good or bad, has checked the university administration, while the new centralized topdown system has decreased risk management levels, which is now becoming the more crucial issue for university management.

　 For Japanese private higher education, which has depended heavily on tuition income, the existence of parents who believe in the significance of higher education and expect their children to secure a good career through university education has been indispensable. But recently parents who have willingly paid high tuition have become more cost-sensitive, and are no longer willing to pay for “useless education.” This change can be found in the many cases of student attrition due to the family’s income reduction. Recent opinion polls indicate that parents are no longer saving money for their children’s education, but for their life after retirement. Now, Japanese universities have to compete not only against each other, but also against this new type of parent.