Japan's 99 national universities face radical reform under proposals by the ministry for education.
The proposals encourage universities to present quick results measured against a policy-driven agenda, to become subject to external evaluation and to secure external sponsorship.
Reform would introduce measures to enable graduation in less than four years. The basis on which Japanese national universities are established would be subject to change under the proposals.
An intermediate report from the ministry's research committee has led to heated debate. It sets out a plan to make universities responsible for their own management and finance, with discretion to set the level of student fees and salaries of staff. A merit-pay system would be introduced. National universities would become self-supporting accounting bodies, but they would still get national grants.
Self-evaluation for universities was established two years ago. Another external evaluation system would be introduced under proposals. It is expected that the results of this evaluation will be taken into account when allocating national grants.
Kazuhiko Shimizu, professor of educational systems at the University of Tsukuba, said: "The management style of Japanese universities has been characterised by autonomy at faculty level. To cope with the new evaluation system, the autonomy of faculty will be reduced, and the power of the central executive board of each university will be strengthened."