research, Japan established 12 Na- 

 tional Interuniversity Research In- 

 stitutes in the 1970's (table 2). These 

 institutes are not attached to specific 



Table 2. Joint university and national 

 Interuniversity research institutes 



universities, are open to all univer- 

 sity researchers, and are of the same 

 legal classification as the national 

 universities. 



While the U.S. system relies mostly 

 on separately budgeted R&D project 

 awards, Japan principally depends 

 on an institutional funding system 

 in which universities and colleges 

 receive GUF from the national Gov- 

 ernment for teaching, research, and 

 facilities and equipment. Three- 

 quarters of all Japanese higher ed- 

 ucation R&D funds are received 

 through such general funds, whereas 

 over three-quarters of U.S. higher 

 education R&D funds are obtained 

 from specifically budgeted project 

 items. ^^ 



overall r&d 

 trends 



The higher education sector ap- 

 pears to play a larger role in the Jap- 

 anese R&D system than that in the 

 United States. In 1985, 31 percent of 

 Japan's natural scientists and engi- 

 neers engaged in R&D were in higher 

 education (60 percent of Japanese 

 natural scientists and engineers en- 

 gaged in R&D are in health-related 

 fields). In contrast, 14 percent of the 

 U.S. natural scientists and engineers 

 engaged in R&D were in higher ed- 

 ucation. As a share of total R&D, 

 R&D performance in 1985 in the 

 higher education sector accounted 



SOURCE: Ministiy of Education. Science, and Culture. The Universily 

 Research System in Japan (Tokyo, Japan. 1986) 



^These data are presented in Ben Martin and John 

 Irvine, An International Comparison of Goz^ernment 

 Funding of Academic and Academically Related Research 

 (Sussex, England: University of Sussex, Science Pol- 

 icy Research Unit, 1986), the United States does 

 not have the equivalent of GUF; Martin and Irvine 

 have attempted to identify and include those U.S. 

 funds that are comparable to GUF. 



for 20 percent in Japan and 12 per- 

 cent in the United States.-^ In both 

 Japan and the United States, the 

 higher education sector conducts 

 comparable shares (55-56 percent) of 

 the national basic research effort. 



From 1965 to 1986, R&D perfor- 

 mance in the higher education sec- 

 tor more than tripled in constant 

 dollar terms in Japan and doubled 

 in the United States (chart 23). Jap- 

 anese expenditures increased at an 

 average annual rate of 6.1 percent, 

 compared with 3.2 percent in the 

 United States. In 1986, R&D 

 expenditures in Japanese higher ed- 

 ucation totaled constant $7.3 billion; 

 U.S. expenditures totaled constant 

 $12.7 billion. As a share of total R&D, 

 Japanese higher education R&D de- 

 clined from 36 percent in 1965 to 20 

 percent in 1986 (chart 24). This was 

 largely because of the higher aver- 

 age annual rates of increase in R&D 

 expenditures by industry, govern- 

 ment, and private research insti- 

 tutes. In comparison, U.S. higher 

 education expenditures as a share of 

 total R&D increased slightly, rising 

 from 11 percent in 1965 to 13 percent 

 during 1975-81; expenditures have 

 remained at 12 percent since 1982. 



In Japan, as in most European 

 countries, higher education statis- 

 tics relating to R&D revenues and 

 expenditures include a sizable por- 

 tion of GUF, which includes normal 

 operating expenses. A recent study 

 by Martin and Irvine-** illustrates the 

 implications of including a propor- 

 tion of such funds for computing 

 government-funded academic re- 

 search. Of Japan's government- 

 funded academic research, the study 

 found that 75 percent is allocated for 

 GUF, compared with the study's es- 



-'If the United States had data on and included 

 data from State and local governments, this 12-per- 

 cent share for the higher education sector would 

 likely be higher, 



^MarHn and Irvine, op, cit. 



24 



