The use of English as a medium of instruction in higher education is a global trend of internationalization. English has become one of the key drivers of student mobility in higher education market in Asian countries. As a lingua franca in education and international communication, English has been adopted by various kinds of transnational programs and regional collaborative programs in the Asian region. Japanese higher education has also embedded English language into its education policy of internationalization with 3 different but related rationales: to raise the global competence of Japanese universities, to foster Japanese students to become ‘global citizens’ with global competence and to attract qualified international students into Japanese campus.
The objectives of this article are to articulate the rationales and current situation of introduction of English Medium Instruction Degree Programs (EMIDP) in Japanese higher education and proposed its contents models. The author analyzes the Japanese national policy of internationalization of higher education which intertwined which international student policy and the introduction of English Medium Instruction (EMI) with reviewing bench marking policies from the 1980s. In 2008, the Japanese government proposed a plan to accommodate 300,000 international students by 2020 and the “Global 30 project” which established new EMIDPs at 13 leading universities in Japan. Other than these newly established ones, this research examined EMIDPs in all Japanese universities through 2 different EMIDP lists by MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and JASSO (Japan Student Services Organization). With examining these existing lists, this research found that there is no clear and shared definition of an EMIDP in Japan, so that we witnessed different kinds of EMIDPs regarding Japanese language requirement and enrollment of international students.
Secondly, through internet-based research on EMIDPs at Japanese universities with focusing on student demography and its language requirement, analysis will be done through examining demography between public and private universities, characteristics and visions of EMIDPs. This research reveals that there are more EMIDPs at the graduate school level than undergraduate level, and most of the existing undergraduate programs are at private universities and contains liberal arts curriculum. It also reveals that there are more EMIDPs in the science and technology field at public universities and more in social science and humanities than in other subjects at private universities.
Furthermore, the author categorized all EMIDPs into 3 models: “studying abroad at home” model, “mutual interaction ” model and “studying abroad in English speaking Asia” model. Each model accommodates different student bodies, curriculums and organizational structures. Its characteristics and issues are also explained according to these 3 models. When discussing the purpose and development of EMIDPs, a quantitative approach should not be the focus, but rather the qualitative dimension of EMIDPs. It also needs international-student-oriented promotion of EMIDPs such as providing a list on the internet with proper contents which match with interests and needs of international students. The rationales and constitution of international students and Japanese students should also be discussed and considered as an important issue for future development of EMIDPs in Japan.

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Advanced Placement (AP) is the nation-wide program that gives talented high school students the opportunities to study college-level courses, and that, if the test scores are good, colleges and universities authorize them as college credits. One of the features of the program is that it is offered at high school campuses by high school teachers. Like the AP program, the education for gifted children aimed to promote knowledge and culture in society, and also to produce large numbers of elites serving as leaders in a variety of areas in the United States.
Since the time of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, however, as society demanded that more students including minorities had to get their rights, the number of children who received gifted education has been increasing steadily with some periods of stagnation. Then, if we focus on minority students who are supposed to be the objects　of many education policies, how has the AP program expanded as a part of education for gifted children? Moreover, how far did the program actually expand and how did the role change?
In order to deal with these questions, this paper firstly clarifies the background of the AP program as an expansionist policy by the Federal Government since the 1980s. Next, it examines the participation of minority students who have been the main target of academic ability improvement policies. Furthermore, this paper discusses the changing role of the AP program in recent years.
This paper makes the following three points. First, the Federal Government has implemented various policies aiming at the improvement in academic ability after “A Nation at Risk,” and, among them, the AP program has been positioned as an important program which promoted the improvement in academic ability of students. Moreover, it　can be said that each State was also positive to the implementation of the program with the financial support.
Second, the number of minority students who participated in the AP program has been increasing through the policies of the Federal and state governments. The AP program was originally expected to raise a student’s academic ability, and, if we examine the college graduation rates of the students who participated in the program and those who did not, we found that former group got higher scores in general. Accordingly, our expectations can be said to have been met in some degree.
Third, with the participation of a large number of students, including minority students, the AP program will bear a new role by its expansion. That is, it is the function as an academic standard to connect the secondary education with the higher education. It can be said that this new role will create possibilities for further expansion of the　program.

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This paper discusses the educational reform practiced in the Austrian capital city, Vienna. Since OECD carried out the PISA test in 2000, many countries have attempted to improve children’s achievement. Austrian educational reform policy consists of an introduction of the educational standard, and the establishment of new middle schools (Neue Mittelschule). This paper focuses on the latter. The establishment of new middle schools aims to integrate the educational system in the future. But Vienna city (equal rank to the state government) is originally reforming the first secondary educational grade. Vienna established not only new middle schools, but also Vienna middle schools (Wiener Mittelschule). As a result, a first secondary educational grade in Vienna became three tracking.
In January 2008, Claudia Schmied was inaugurated as Austrian education minister. Because she belongs to the Austrian social democratic party (SPö), she had a position to advance educational equal opportunity. The method to integrate an Austrian tracking system was the establishment of new middle schools. Schmied described two reasons.
1. The course decision in nine and a half years is very early. Pupils cannot exercise capabilities.
2. In order to change the Austrian structure of the first secondary educational grade, the improvement of qualities is a necessary condition. The target of new middle schools is modern schools having new learning cultures.
The basic establishment form of new middle schools is a transition from secondary schools (Hauptschule). But Schmied mentions “Till 2015/16, all secondary schools will develop to new middle schools. In addition, I require that all AHS (Allgemeine Höhere Schule) take part in this project.” That is to say, her opinion was not only upgrading from secondary schools, but also integrating to AHS junior grades.
However Vienna middle schools have three principles. First is “Test Results are Important”, second is “The Guarantee of Various Chances”, third is “Learning and Freedom”.
This paper describes Austrian educational reform, focusing on new middle schools. On one hand, new middle schools consist of transitions from secondary schools in federal units. On the other hand, Vienna had an advanced reaction. That is the establishment of Vienna middle schools. Almost schools change from secondary schools, however curriculums are according to AHS. This movement is the equality or the integration to AHS. If Vienna middle schools succeed, the federal educational system reform will be influenced.

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Massive post-war migration flows from ex-colonies have posed a challenge to France and England. When it comes to integrating the migration through the national education systems in these two countries, different approaches in regard to immigrant children have been introduced. To explain these different approaches to the education policies, this paper begins by specifying the roles of the State in institutionalizing the national ideologies in public education systems. ,The Sociology of the State by Pierre Birnbaum helps to explain the different degrees of State intervention in national integration pursued by means of public education in France and England. Secondly, the different degrees of institutionalization of the national ideologies in educational policies are studied by looking at the reforms in educational policies for immigrant children in 1999 (in England) and in 2002 (in France). Lastly, it is stressed that national ideologies in educational policies are also embedded in teachers’ perceptions and classroom practices regarding immigrant children. The cultural perspectives of teachers are thus examined here by analyzing their views on the national education policies for immigrant children through the interviews held at primary schools in London, Nottingham, Paris and Nantes in 2005.
The principal objective of this paper is to form a socio-political analysis of the interaction between the State, the national ideologies institutionalized in educational policies, and teachers’ perceptions and practices. The analysis of this interaction is then applied to explain the different developments in educational policies for immigrant children in France and England.

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This paper aims to deepen historical understanding of the Okinawan identity through a study of the dialect punishment board (hogen fuda).
Up until 1879, in Okinawa, ordinary people used the Ryukyuan language. In the Ryukyu Islands, people in different groups had different dialects. The difference between their dialects was very wide compared with dialects in mainland Japan. In the Meiji period, the Japanese national government started teaching standard Japanese all over Japan including Okinawa in order to establish a unified language in their attempt to modernize the nation. It was linked with other policies of the government such as developing national wealth, strengthening the military and educating the masses as subjects of the Emperor. Meanwhile, Okinawan people, afraid of discrimination, wanted their own unified language. Because discrimination was often caused by differences of dialect, they wanted to communicate to other people without a language barrier.
In schools and some village communities in Okinawa, the dialect punishment board (hogen fuda) was made for every classroom and some community centers. Students had to wear it around their necks if they spoke in dialect. The tag was handed over to other students who spoke in their dialect. The method was common under the Customary Law of Okinawan Villages.
Though this method of language enforcement led to the repression of Okinawan culture and language, it was never official government policy. Certainly, standard Japanese was forced on Okinawan people in prewar times by the prefectural government. However, popular opinion supported enforcement of the use of standard Japanese as a way to adapt to the new era. The dialect punishment board continued to be used in Okinawa even after the war until around the 1970s. They chose the standard Japanese of their own will during the postwar period.
After reversion in 1972, the use of standard Japanese rapidly spread among ordinary people due to wide exposure to television, freedom to travel to and from mainland Japan and the development of tourism. As a result, the young generation born after reversion can rarely speak dialects.

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