chapter 4. 



higher education 



Because the Japanese and U.S. 

 higher education systems are very 

 different, it is difficult to make in- 

 ternational comparisons of the re- 

 sources devoted to R&D in the higher 

 education sector. For the purposes 

 of this discussion, the Organisation 

 for Economic Co-operation and De- 

 velopment (OECD) definition of 

 higher education is used: it com- 

 prises all universities, colleges of 

 technology, and other institutes of 

 post-secondary education whatever 

 their legal status or source of fund- 

 ing; and includes all research insti- 

 tutes, experimental stations, and 

 medical facilities operating under the 

 direct control of, administered by, 

 or associated with higher education 

 establishments. For instance, in the 

 United States, R&D expenditures in 

 the higher education sector include 

 those funds spent not only in uni- 



versities and colleges but also in fed- 

 erally funded research and 

 development centers (FFRDCs) ad- 

 ministered by individual universi- 

 ties and colleges and by university 

 consortia. 



Japan's university research sys- 

 tem is composed of three types of 

 institutions: universities, research 

 institutes attached to universities, 

 and National Interuniversity Re- 

 search Institutes.^'' The university 

 system consists of 96 national uni- 

 versities established under the au- 

 thority of the Ministry of Education, 

 Science, and Culture (Monbusho); 

 34 public institutions established by 

 local governments; and 331 private 



''The above discussion of the Japanese higher ed- 

 ucation research system is drawn from the Ministry 

 of Education, Science, and Culture, The Universih/ 

 Research System iii ]afmi (Tokyo, Japan, 1986). 



institutions. R&D is also conducted 

 at an assortment of junior and tech- 

 nical colleges which account for about 

 10 percent of the academic staff in 

 the entire higher education system. 



Research at the university level is 

 also conducted in research institutes 

 established within the universities 

 as well as in the National Interuniv- 

 ersity Research Institutes. Recent 

 policy emphasis has been on the co- 

 operative use of research facilities: 

 of the 69 institutes attached to the 

 national universities, 12 are avail- 

 able for joint use. The more than 500 

 research institutes affiliated with 

 public and private universities are 

 devoted primarily to the humanities 

 and social sciences. 



To promote research and aca- 

 demic cooperation in those fields of 

 science which require large-scale fa- 

 cilities and equipment or collective 



23 



