Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...

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management and administration systems, school system, financing system, teacher training and
curriculum.
In 1994, Educational Reform and Development Plan stressed upon basic education, vocational
and adult education. In 2004 Action plan for invigorating education supported reforms in the
training of specialized professionals, strengthening of learning capacity, and enhancing quality at
all levels. As a result of reforms in education English language was given more importance in
education at all levels. More recently Education Reform and Development Plan, in 2009, has
supported the reforms in higher education through restructuring of infrastructure, relaxing central
control, more autonomy for universities, increased funding for education, enhancing the quality
of higher education, strengthening teacher education, and promoting advanced research and
technology based education and harnessing institutional collaboration .
Japan
Education in Japan has gone through many reforms and this process is still going in response to
the changing needs of the society. As deregulation efforts started in the 1980's and 1990's, in the
field of higher education as well, under the control and protection of the government,
liberalization, individualization, and diversity became the central parts of the university reform
(Poole 2003).
In 1980s National Council of Educational Reform formulated many proposals to make the
education according to the individuals‟ and societal needs. During 1990s reforms were
introduced to make lifelong learning relevant to various future needs of the society, to expand
and provide lifelong learning opportunities at the community level, to construct Japanese higher
education responsive to 21 st century needs, and to face the challenges of spread of modern
information media and the advancement of science and technology. In this regard to support and
to adjust the reform process, not only existing educational law were amended but new laws were
also introduced.
In the result of innovative reform process the boundaries of higher education is extending very
rapidly new programs of studies and research are launched. Likewise many other new
developments are evident in the Japanese education system: restructuring of higher education
management, the establishment of vocational institutions, initiatives for quality assurance,
improvement of external assessment system and enhancing the research capacity of the