大学の組織・経営とそれを支える人材

編集意図の説明を兼ねて

抄録

　 Japan’s higher education system is facing many serious external demands. The Independent Administrative Institution, for example, is a structure that the government is implementing to induce national university reform. Resource allocations based upon external evaluation have been introduced. These measures impact university management and faculty that have been accustomed to a noncompetitive funding system. These changes reflect shifts in the power balance between universities and the government. Based upon this current situation. it is an opportune time to present several articles on the new managerial challenges confronting universities.

　 Strong leadership by presidents and deans is encouraged by several reports issued by the University Council which is the advisory council to the Education Minister. Universities in Japan, however, do not have enough staff that can support presidential leadership effectively. Further, non-academic staff as well as faculty members often lack managerial knowledge and ability. Therefore, universities have to improve the managerial skills of their staff and faculty. To complicate matters more, faculty members and administrators are sometimes in opposition.

　 According to the author’s recent survey of university staff, most administrators feel strongly that they should train their administrative and support staff to work positively in the new competitive environment of higher education system. The survey also finds that in private universities, administrative non-academic staff keep working for the same institution far longer than those who work for national and local public institutions.