Around the turn of the 20th to the 21st century, higher education was required to respond to three challenges in the form of needs or demands: the need for greater mobilization of resources so as to increase enrollment, the demand for more efficient resource utilization, and the need to make educational content more relevant. The strategies used to respond to these challenges can be classified into three: government-induced marketization, the incorporation of public universities, and the functional differentiation of higher education institutions. This paper analyzes the structural factors and problem points inherent in each of these three strategies, and discusses the opportunities that they present for a new higher education policy.

　 Increasing demand for student enrollment, surging education costs, declining governmental revenue, increasing globalization, and growing economic liberalism are the challenges currently faced by almost all the OECD countries as they make efforts to finance higher education in their respective countries. This paper attempts to explore why these advanced economies are facing such challenges, drawing on economic theories concerned with such factors as global mobility, skill distribution and economic returns to education. At first glance, it seems that the increased mobility of students, scholars and skilled individuals accompanying globalization and economic liberalization is likely to bring about even greater shrinkage in government budgets. Nonetheless, ensuring equity of access on the one hand, and securing skilled human resource on the other, have been increasing in importance, and these issues fall within the purview of national governments. Demands have been made for the introduction of a new paradigm in the balance between public and private cost-sharing through innovative government involvement in higher education funding.

　 In this paper, I examine the changes in national university finances in Japan after incorporation. I begin by clarifying that the total income of all national universities increased by \214 billion from 2005-2011, while the government block grant decreased by \68 billion. 84% of the total increase in income could be attributed to income from university hospitals.

　 Focusing on the total income of individual universities, more than 30% suffered a decrease in their income. Most of these were colleges of education and universities without a university hospital. On the other hand, all universities with a university hospital experienced a rise in income. As a result, income differentials among universities have expanded and, in the process among academic disciplines as well.

　 Income from university hospitals is a crucial factor in the process of enabling each university to maintain its income level, but the income concerned is, in a very literal and specific sense, university hospital income. I therefore calculated the total of university income leaving aside income from university hospitals, and found that in these circumstances, more than 50% of universities showed a fall in income. On the other hand, in the case of universities which achieved an increase in their total income, excluding university hospital income, there was a tendency for the increase to come from an expansion of competitive research grants and dedicated research contracts. However, this increase in income belonged to specific researchers or groups. An increase of this kind did not mean that overall basic research and educational conditions for each faculty were supported by these funds. At the same time, the receipt of such grants and contracts resulted in additional administrative tasks.

　 I conclude that it is time to reconsider how to balance government block grants on the one hand and competitive research grants and assigned contracts on the other, while paying attention to the different abilities among academic disciplines to earn money. Each university also should reallocate their income among its departments from an academic perspective.

　 In Japan, there are few studies of public (prefectural or municipal) universities as a distinct category, much less analyses of their financial circumstances. Moreover, since 2004, it has become possible for a public university to be incorporated and to be given the status of a public university corporation, which then becomes the university’s governing body. More research is needed on the implications of this change, and it is against this background that this paper aims to undertake a financial analysis of public university corporations in addition to reviewing previous papers on public university finances.

　 The main results of interest that are revealed by a financial analysis of public university corporations on the basis of their financial statements are follows (listed firstly are points as seen from a macro perspective):

　 ・Tangible fixed assets make up a large proportion of the total assets.

　 ・The percentage of earmarked funds in university balance sheets is small but they play an important role in profit and loss statements.

　 ・Corporations invest and pay their debts instead of conducting a positive manipulation of their cash flow.

　 ・Corporations’ undivided profits are largely reserved as earmarked funds, but it is not clear whether or not they are carried forward to the next Midterm Objectives period.

　 ・About 40 percent of operating costs and extraordinary losses incurred by corporations have come to be assigned to local residents.Additional points are the following:

　 ・The financial situation varies from corporation to corporation, for example, in terms of the possession of a hospital or the year of the university’s foundation.

　 ・The assets and operating profits, administrative activities, and investment and financial activities of corporations as well as the results of these activities are correlated.

　 The financial analysis of public university corporations has just started. There is a need for more detailed research designed to explore the substantial implications.

　 The aim of this paper is to clarify the changes in the financial situation of Japanese private universities since 1995, from the perspective of a macro-level and a micro-level analysis.　 What emerges clearly from the analysis of aggregate financial data is that in addition to a worsening of the current budget (the ratio of current expenditure to current income), the ratio of the reserve fund in terms of the stock that must be maintained in order to ensure stable management, also shows a downward trend. Furthermore, there is a widening gap among universities in accordance with their scale and location. On the basis of an analysis of the financial database of individual universities, which covers 91% of the total, I classify 4 types in terms of the aspect of the change from 2007 to 2010. 63% are in excellent condition, 8% show a favorable swing, 12% are detereorating, and 17% are in a state of stagnation. The relationship between differences in the financial condition and differences in management actions is also analyzed. The “stagnation group” shows a decrease in expenditure, but this is exceeded by the reduced income from tuition fees. A number of universities in this group have started to reduce their student quota.　 In order to tackle future issues, two research perspectives are needed. One should focus on how to verify the effects of management reforms and the internal efficiency of private universities. The other should focus on how to clarify the social role of private universities and on a discussion of ‘who should pay’ based on clarification of ‘who benefits’.

　 The aim of this paper is to investigate cost-sharing in higher education, with a particular focus on tuition fees and student financial aid policies in various countries, and to review the previous research in this topic so as to acquire a firm grasp of the policy implications. In Japan, there is a strong feeling that parents are responsible for their children’s education, and therefore should pay the cost of their education. However, within the context of cost-sharing, the shift in the relative burden from the public purse to private funds, and from parents to children (students) has become a worldwide trend. This paper examines financial support measures for students from the perspective of this shift, and confirms the development of a policy shift from student grants to student loans in various countries. However, the paper argues that this shift causes loan burden and loan avoidance problems, and clarifies, by reference to several international case studies, a heightening recognition of the importance of student grants.

　 Almost all research projects at university level are financially supported by the government. What links the government’s science and technology policy to university finances is the science funding system. This paper aims to investigate how the science funding system influences university financing, management and research.

　 There is currently a skewed distribution of public research funds among national universities in Japan, resulting from a series of policy changes carried out since 1996. In the early stages, the funding system did no more than manage the total amount comprised in the General University Funds, which were succeeded by the expanding Direct Government Funds. The recent transformation of science and technology policy, which has come to put more emphasis on socio-economic outcomes, has resulted in diversification of funding mechanisms, including mission-oriented project funding and center-of-excellence funding. The changes in the funding system have in turn affected not only the level of national research performance but also individual and institutional behaviors, causing various difficulties in the governance of public research.

　 The purposes of this study are to clarify the trends of federal student loan delinquency and default and the countermeasures taken by the Federal Department of Education to decrease them.

　 First, I review the research literature on the characteristics of student loan defaulters. Secondly, I survey the countermeasures taken by the Federal Government to decrease default rates, and point out thoes characteristics as follows: 1) an improvement in the methods of debt collection and the introduction of sanctions targeting the higher education institutions with a high cohort default rate in 1990, 2) amendment of the US Bankruptcy Code and expansion of exceptions to bankruptcy discharge, and 3) diversification of repayment options. In relation to the first point, the Federal Government started passing default information to national credit bureaus, outsourcing collection to debt collection agencies, offsetting income tax refunds and garnishing the wages of defaulters. In addition to these efforts, they introduced sanctions against the institutions with a high cohort default rate. This was very effective in decreasing the default rate. In relation to the second point, the repayment of federal student loans could not be canceled due to bankruptcy afrer 1998. It was criticized from a consumer protection point of view. However, the Federal Government also expanded the exceptions to bankruptcy discharge in respect of private student loans. In relation to the third point, the US General Accounting Office reported that the default rates between non-consolidated loans and consolidated loans differed substantially in relation to the four repayment options.

　 Finally, on the basis of this study, I point out that JASSO should strengthen not only debt collection more carefully but also diversify the repayment options and share the borrower’s repayment information with universities.

　 Taking as its target the educational functions of graduate-level educational institutions in the field of information technology, this paper aims to investigate the originality of the teaching methods and philosophies found in professional graduate schools in comparison with those of traditional graduate schools. The two central focal points of the paper are the respective missions and curricula of the schools and the attitude of the professors, that is, the points of view of the educators in both types of institutions. The comparison resulted in the following three findings:

　 1) Compared to traditional graduate schools, the education imparted in professional graduate schools is more relevant to society and the industrial sector. Professional graduate schools also focus more strongly on human resource development in specific fields.

　 2) Compared to their counterparts in traditional graduate schools, the professors in professional graduate schools are more aware of the importance of team activities and the practical use of knowledge, and they lay emphasis on knowledge and skills that pertain to specific fields rather than on fundamental theories.

　 3) However, in spite of the differences in the attitudes of the professors, some traditional graduate schools follow educational practices similar to those of professional graduate schools.

　 It follows that it is difficult to determine the extent of the originality of the teaching methods and philosophies of professional graduate schools.

　 In a recent report issued by the Ministry of Education, recommendations have been made to both professional and traditional graduate schools that they should follow similar policies. However, these recommendations might diminish the originality of the teaching methods and philosophies of professional graduate schools. What is needed, rather, is for government to implement a policy to advocate the distinctive role of professional graduate schools.

　 In recent years, expectations regarding private donations have grown among Japanese higher education policy-makers and university managers. However, the amount of donations to higher education institutions in Japan has not significantly increased. In contrast to this, the amount of individual donations to U.S. higher education institutions increased dramatically from the mid-1980s to the end of the 1990s. The purpose of this study is to reveal what the determinants of this longterm trend are.

　 Many previous studies have shown that trends in the amount of individual donations to U.S. higher education institutions correlate with stock prices, and some researchers have simply interpreted this phenomenon as meaning that economic recession reduces the amount of individual donations. This paper puts forward a different hypothesis, namely that the ability of stock prices to affect the amount of individual donations to higher education institutions depends on the existence of a federal tax policy that allows donors to avoid capital gains tax and to deduct the fair market value of appreciated property gifts from their taxable income.

　 To test this hypothesis, this study conducted time series analysis of individual donations to U.S. higher education institutions from 1956 to 2008. The results show that the influence of stock prices on the amount of individual donations decreased when federal charitable deductions for appreciated property gifts were limited by the federal government. This result indicates that the combination of increased stock prices and federal charitable deductions for appreciated property gifts was an important factor contributing to the expansion of individual donations to U.S. higher education institutions.

　 Lastly, this paper discusses the implications of this finding for higher education policy in Japan and also suggests some tasks to be tackled by future research.