Reforms cause conflict

A year after Japan's 89 national universities became independent, friction between faculties and the new executive bodies that have taken over the running of institutions is evident. In one case, conflict has led to a courtroom battle between a professor and the Education Ministry.

Gavan McCormack, a professor at the private International Christian University, Tokyo, said: "Universities' autonomy has gone."

Minoru Iwasaki, assistant professor of philosophy at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, added: "Denationalisation has given the ministry stronger control over former national universities."

While 130,000 faculty members lost civil-servant status, ministry officials now sit on the powerful new management boards at a number of prestigious universities. At the same time, the Government retained the power to approve the appointments of presidents or vice-chancellors.

The ministry said it was trying to push through much-needed reforms by working closely with presidents.

"Presidents need power to implement reform without being hindered by faculty factionalism," said Takakuni Ikeda, an official at the ministry's National University Corporation Support Department.

But at Shiga Medical University, the decision by Ryuichi Yoshi-kawa, the president, to reappoint himself after he was defeated in an election led the winner, Yoichi Noda, to take the ministry to court.

At Tohoku University, in northern Japan, the incumbent president scrapped the election and reappointed himself for a second term.

While the ministry is trying to justify the new power structure, it is aware of the pitfalls. "There are no checks and balances in place to prevent abuse of power by the president," Mr Ikeda conceded.

But he claims that the management committees, where corporate executives sit alongside ministry officials, will help bring efficiency to university administration. For example, the chairman of IBM Japan is on the board of Kyoto University, and the chairman of Sony is on the board of Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

In the meantime, all former national universities face an annual 1 per cent subsidy cut for an indefinite period.

This year, however, the cuts were bigger as the Government factored in a fees increase. Fees at nearly all former national universities went up this year by Y15,000 (£75) to Y535,000, despite protests by about 20 university presidents.

"Our fees are higher than at some top private universities, such as Waseda," said Professor Iwasaki.

Faced with shrinking subsidies, academics have to compete for research cash by applying to funds under ministry control or in the private sector.

Subjects with no immediate commercial benefit - philosophy, literature or even basic science - will face an especially tough time.

"Our policy is to promote research that will immediately benefit industry," Mr Ikeda said.

The Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, mindful of the ministry's preference for commerce-oriented studies, has recently abolished one of two professor posts in Arabic literature, Professor Iwasaki said.

"It's incredible that such a decision should be taken at a time when the Islamic culture is so important," he said.