By the early 20th century, the core of research ethics for scientists was established as acting with integrity in drafting, planning, implementing and reporting research, and not committing any form of misconduct, for example, fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism, in the course of research activities. The principles of this code of ethics can be summarized as “research ethics in the practice of research” or more succinctly as the “responsible conduct of research”.

　 Since the 1980s, the practice of research ethics has become a worldwide problem, needing to be tackled not only by researchers, but by politicians and administrators, and nationwide systems have been constructed in each individual country. In this context, it should be noted that in current research ethics, what is considered good scientific practice is based on ‘Wertfreiheit’ （freedom from any form of interference） and is separate from the ethics of practice. However, when science comes to have a substantial influence on society through the medium of technology, researchers have a responsibility in respect of the results of the application of research findings such as atomic research and genetic research.

　 These two types of ethics have mutually conflicting aspects, and it is while taking this conflict into account that modern research ethics is not simply concerned with the protection of established ethics, but with the need to establish a new system of ethics constructed by researchers and the research community with the aim of fulfilling their responsibility to society at large.

　 In recent years, Asian nations have been seeking to establish a regionally aligned academic credit system as a part of what has become known as a “Permeable Framework” in higher education. Because it uses the same measurement tools across a designated region, this regionally aligned educational framework will allow students and universities to understand the unique features of the education provided by each individual university at the same time as promoting the credit transfer of course work throughout an entire region. The Bologna Process in Europe is a good example of the successful establishment of such a framework in higher education. For more than 20 years, there have been various attempts in Asia to establish a similarly aligned framework to that of higher education in Europe. The purpose of this paper is to describe how, in recent years, the concept of Asian Academic Credits（hereafter AACs）as an aligned credit transfer system has been getting more attention in Asian higher education. Moreover, it will also discuss how the development of AACs will influence the future development of student mobility in Asia.

　 The background to this paper is a decline in the 18-year-old population in Japan as a whole, with the exception of the Tokyo metropolitan area. Against this background, the paper, on the basis of an analysis of the regional variations in the decision to progress to higher education, analyzes the potential impact on opportunities for higher education in Japan of a new public policy, currently under consideration, designed to regulate and influence the location of universities.

　 Using the data in the School Basic Survey, an analysis of time series data by region puts the main focus on changes in the statistics of the traditional college-age population, the location of high schools from which all college entrants graduated, and the location of the colleges and universities in which they matriculated. The analysis suggests that if a new policy limiting the potential for the establishment or expansion of colleges and universities in Tokyo is implemented, the concentration of college students in the Tokyo metropolitan area might be mitigated by a decrease in female students from the Tokyo metropolitan area or in entrants from provincial areas near Tokyo such as Kita-Kanto.

　 The purpose of this paper is to clarify statistically recent changes in university graduates’ employment. The viewpoints underlying the analysis are:

　 a. Using figures for graduates at the time of graduation, the employment rate as regular （full-time and permanent） employees

　 b. the unemployment rate and the employment rate as non-regular （part-time or temporary contract） employees aged 25 to 34

　 c. the size of employing companies, type of occupations, and wages as indexes of social prestige.

　 d. the resignation rate within 3 years after graduation, and the situation after resignation.

　 The results of the analysis are as follows. In comparison with high-school graduates, a smaller proportion of university graduates were employed as non-regular contract workers, while a larger proportion were employed in large-scale enterprises. The gap between academic backgrounds was seen to be expanding over the period of analysis. On the other hand, the employment situation of university graduates showed increasing diversification; 20% of male graduates proceeded to blue-collar jobs, and the remuneration of university graduates was spread over an increasingly wide range. It is also pointed out that the number of female university-graduate employees is increasing substantially.

　 On the basis of those changes, the analysis points out the issues to which universities should give special consideration. The first is that of what kind of device is appropriate for sharing with （industrial） society recognition of the knowledge and skills that need to be cultivated, and the second is that of the career development of female graduates.

　The purpose of this paper is to review recent research trends within the broad theme of “making learning outcomes visible” and to present the most pertinent issues in an organized form. First, we define the learning outcomes from three perspectives: （a）intended and achieved; （b）direct and indirect; （c）cross-institutional, institutional, program, and course levels. On the basis of the conceptual multiplicity of learning outcomes, we have classified the methods and tools used to make learning outcomes visible into four types grouped along two axes, direct and indirect assessments as well as quantitative and qualitative assessments, and clarify the characteristics of each type. Furthermore, by means of a value-added analysis of the quality of education and a meta-analysis of increasing the visibility of effective teaching, we give specific illustrations of how “second-order visibility” is generated by application of the concept of making learning outcomes visible. Finally, we point out four potential risks which are inseparably inherent in our study theme: the reduction of learning outcomes to quantifiable aspects only, the erosion of goals by assessments, a loss of diversity, and a heavy assessment load.

　 This article explores the context of applying a learning outcomes-based assessment to a college housing and residential life program. The change to leaner-centered education and learning-outcome assessment has had a big impact on Japanese universities over the past 10 years. However, this change is still confined to the curriculum, and there is no pressure to activate it in terms of applying it to student affairs/services as a whole. This paper puts its main focus on assessment in the context of student affairs in the U.S., predating developments in Japanese higher education, especially in terms of housing and residential life programs. The origin of student affairs programs in the U.S. can be found in colonial university halls of residence, and housing and residential life programs developed since they have a large organization and staff as well as independent revenue sources derived from student residential fees. This enables them to engage an assessment specialist of the kind required to facilitate development of an assessment culture in the program.

　 This paper takes up 2 cases of housing and residential programs in 2 universities with the aim of deepening understanding of the actual context of a learning-outcome assessment, The Ohio State University-Columbus and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In both the 2 cases, assessment specialists in student affairs or programs were hired, though different management styles, centralized and decentralized, were adopted in each case. Both value ideas generated by an interactive communications relationship between not only practitioner and practitioner, but also between practitioner and specialist. And they also have common structural characteristics. The first is that their assessment target is not limited to student learning outcomes, but extends over the entirety of programs or activities. The second is the development in recent years of a mid-term strategic plan. This describes student affairs as needing to be accountable to stakeholders for the role and meaning of its activities in education.

　 One of the important implications for future learning-outcome assessment in the context of the Japanese student affairs/services are the realization that learning-outcome assessment must be part of a mutual inter-relationship with institutional strategies and goals as well as with other educational activities and programs so as to improve educational quality as a whole.

　 In this paper, we reviewed articles applying quantitative analysis to higher education field published in two academic journals and/or an institutional journal over the past 10 years in Japan.

　 As a result, we discovered the following points; 1） we need to avoid incomplete information related to analysis, inappropriate application of analytical techniques, excessive interpretation, etc., 2） we need to solve problems as above by applying correctly new methods such as Generalized Liner Model, Zero-Inflated Model, Log-Linear Model, Decision Tree Analysis, Fixed Effect, Random Effect, Mixed Effect Model and Mixed Trajectory Model in near the future, 3） we need to consider the advantages of Supporting Information Service which allow us to complement information that we could not include in article.

　 Then, we indicated the importance to apply advanced methods like not only the methods described above but state-of-the-art ones as Text Mining, Bayes statistics, Machine Learning. Finally, we pointed out that all members of Higher Education Research Community are largely responsible for improvement of the quality and the excellence of quantitative analysis in higher education research.

　 The Association of Higher Education Research （JAHER） asked me as the first president of JAHER to contribute an essay as part of the commemoration of JAHER’s twentieth anniversary. Specifically, I was asked to write an essay which described the situation and background factors existing at the time of the establishment of JAHER. To tell the story of the establishment, it is necessary to look back to the beginning of higher education research in Japan.

　 I was interested in this field when I was a graduate student, but in the 1960s, there were only a few scholars interested in research into higher education. Prior to the establishment of JAHER, a very important role in higher education research was played by the University History Study Group （Daigakushi Kenkyukai）, the translation of the developing stages theory by Martin Trow, and IDE Research Meeting （IDE Bunken Kenkyukai）. A further epoch-making event was the establishment of the Research Institute for Higher Education at Hiroshima University in 1972.

　 Thereafter a national research center for higher education and research centers in several national and private universities were established continuously one after the other. In addition, Tamagawa University Press began to publish many books on higher education in the latter half of the 1980’s. The first program specifically focused on on higher education research was established in the School of Education, The University of Tokyo, in 1992, and I was the first professor in charge of this program.

　 Looking back at the history of higher education research, it is understandable that the conditions and environment favoring the establishment of JAHER matured in the latter half of the 1990s. The establishment of JAHER in 1997 was the legacy of the zeal and efforts of the younger generation of higher education researchers. At that time, the membership of JAHER comprised not only many researchers in the sociology of education but also various kinds of scholars in other branches of education. It is legitimate to call it a kind of “Agora.”

　 The situation surrounding higher education research has changed drastically since the beginning of this century. The central focus of the change is a shift to the market-driven reform of higher education against the background of a neo-liberal ideology, while the expectations placed in higher education researchers have become wider, and reforms have dealt with very pragmatic problems. We need to reflect on and investigate these changes on the occasion of JAHER’s twentieth anniversary in order to be able to guide JAHER’s future development.

　 Junior colleges in South Korea originally offered associate degree programs focusing mainly on vocational education. However, recently, the government has started to set up bachelor’s degree programs in junior colleges. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the background factors underlying the introduction of bachelor’s degree programs in junior colleges and their educational content, and to consider the validity of the junior college strategy.

　 First, this paper surveys the background and the strategies underlying the introduction of bachelor’s degree programs in junior colleges. The clear conclusion is that the government aim is to enable junior colleges to acquire the means of competing with universities. Against the background of a reduction in the 18-year-old population and the development of a knowledge-based society, junior colleges have expanded their bachelor’s degree programs so as to acquire more students.

　 Secondly, we confirm, by means of an analysis of the characteristics of bachelor’s degree programs in junior colleges compared to university programs, that the programs in junior colleges are clearly oriented toward vocational education. While the university degree programs are composed of academic subjects, the junior college degree programs are composed mainly of vocational or practical subjects. While it is true that the number of universities emphasizing vocational education is increasing, it remains the case that the dominant characteristic of junior college education is a curriculum which emphasizes practical trainings.

　 In conclusion, we examine the validity of the evaluation of the bachelor’s degree conferred by junior colleges, and consider the strategy of aiming to promote a competitive stance by junior colleges vis-a-vis universities. This paper argues strongly that the junior college bachelor’s degree programs are specifically oriented to vocational education, and that there are clear differences between the junior college programs and those offered by universities. It follows that junior colleges should confer a vocational （professional or technical etc.）bachelor’s degree.

　 The purpose of this paper is to examine, by analyzing the results of an online survey of university graduates in the social sciences, whether learning experiences related to academic writing improve experiential learning in the workplace after graduation.

　 The main findings are threefold. First, within the context of the learning experiences related to academic writing, there is a strong positive correlation between academic behavior and experiential learning. Second, the perspective of an outsider in learning experiences related to academic writing also displays a positive correlation. Third, other variables extracted from the period spent at university, with the exception of learning experiences related to academic writing, show no or only a very weak correlation with experiential learning.

　 In conclusion, these findings suggest that learning experiences related to academic writing improve experiential learning in the workplace after graduation to a certain extent.

　 This paper examines the development and the implementation of the university accreditation system in post-war Japan, with a special focus on the private university group known as the “Group of Four Universities in the Kansai.”

　 The paper mainly attempts to explain three topics. The first one comprises the relationship between universities and the Japan University Accreditation Association （JUAA）, particularly in the context of the developmental process of accreditation. The second one comprises an examination of the reaction of the “Group of Four Universities in the Kansai” to the movement leading to the establishment of the accreditation system. The third and final one comprises a positioning of the accreditation system and the reaction of the “Group of Four Universities in the Kansai” within the broad framework of the situation and policy trends that impacted on private universities at the time in question.

　 As a result, by examining the background underlying the formation and development of the “Group of Four Universities in the Kansai”, the author makes the following three points. Firstly, the universities in their entirety contributed to the construction of the accreditation system. Furthermore, each university showed a different reaction to the movement to establish an accreditation system. Secondly, the movement leading to accreditation promoted collaboration among the “four universities”. In addition, the accreditation system played an important role as the prerequisite to promotion of the “four universities” movement. Finally the paper also explores the issues of the improvement in teaching and research standards, which have formed the focus of the reaction of private universities to the post-war accreditation system.