Education Reform Policy at a Japanese Super Global University

A telling case for internationalisation-focused education reform policy in Japan. Black investigates the role of the university in society, the youth-to-work transition, and systems of organisational management operative at an elite Japanese university as it implements government-funded reform politices.

This book is a case study of policy translation at an elite Japanese university. Through an analysis of the implementation of government-funded reform policies, Black investigates the role of the university in society, the youth-to-work transition, and systems of organisational management operative at the university.

Black was present throughout the initial adoption phase of the Super Global project, a policy project implemented at an elite Japanese university, the University of Tsukuba. Aligned with a basic critical realist perspective, the different components of his research are integrated in four levels of analysis: the macro level of policy, the organisation level of the university, the departmental level of the English Section, and the individual level of the student. The analysis and the different sources of data look at internal structures of the organisation and try to understand what the mechanisms of policy translation operative are in the integrated and overlapping complexity of the four levels of analysis. At the core of the research is the objective of understanding why things are as they are.

The main theories to emerge from the case study serve to inform the judgements and decisions of practitioners or policy makers in this area. It is a telling case for internationalisation-focused education reform policy in Japan.

Autorentext

Grant Black is an associate professor in the Faculty of Commerce at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan. Previously, he was Chair of the English Section at the Center for Education of Global Communication at the University of Tsukuba in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: mapping the monograph 2. Setting the scene for Super Global 3. Globalisation and convergence 4. The labour market and transition to work in Japan 5. The Japanese university and international competition 6. Mapping the framework for analysis of university operations 7. Translating Super Global in practice 8. Migration and mutation from a macro-micro perspective: policy, institutions, departments, and students