Impact case study database

Shaping Japanese higher education policy

Kariya’s research featured in discussions that took place on 14 November 2018 in the Central Council of Education of MEXT, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This Council is the main policy-making committee for education policy in Japan. Discussing how Japan should create its own model of higher education, one Council member stated that according to Prof. Kariya of Oxford University, the relative strengths of Japanese university education should be more critically pursued rather than just being based on models outside of Japan:

‘Mr. Kariya in Oxford also said… Japan can, in a sense, be a model for most countries outside Europe, and in that sense, the United States and Europe can have a special perspective. …internationalization only at such a level as English publications, impact factor, etc. is not harmful, but that is not the only problem I thought.’ ( S1) (translated from Japanese, citing ideas from R2)

The citation by name of an academic, especially one based overseas, is highly unusual in Japanese policymaking circles.

The impact of Kariya’s research on the thinking of ministers in MEXT is also acknowledged by the former vice minister of MEXT (Vice-Minister from 2013-2015). He reflected that:

‘[Kariya’s] work, supported by robust empirical evidence, had some impact on our policy when the MEXT’s Central Council summarised a policy report titled “Grand Design for Higher Education in 2040” (2019) in acknowledging the importance of pursuing our own model rather than by simply adopting western models. Specifically, his empirical research impacted on our discussions about how to reconstruct overall HEIs curricula and reorganise students learning activities’ ( S2, translated).

Shifting understanding in the higher education sector on globalisation issues

Kariya’s research has played a significant role in how leaders in the higher education sector are approaching issues of globalization. On 27 August 2018, he was invited by the President of Tsudajuku University to deliver a keynote speech at a symposium convened by the Association of Private Universities of Japan. This is one of the largest associations of Japanese private universities with 125 members consisting of high-ranking administrators (predominantly presidents or vice-presidents). Kariya’s speech focusing on the globalization issues at the heart of his research, enlightened discussions about the possibility of more feasible university reforms. The President of Tsudajuku University stated in the post-conference publication that Kariya’s research (in particular R2) had changed thinking within the Association and across the sector, as she confirms in her e-mail from September 2019:

‘Top executives in private universities referred to his works on globalisation policies to understand the meaning of the [government’s] policies. His research, based on cogent evidence in comparisons with UK HEIS, impacted on our report on ‘How private universities can show their presence globally?’ His delivered speech made us realise defects in government higher education policies, which are made with very limited evidence for policy making.’ ( S3, translated)

In the same email, she testifies to how the ideas set out in his book, The warning bells from Oxford [ R2], have been disseminated within the community of university leaders:

‘Kariya provided an insightful perspective that relativizes the perception of educational power inherent in the problems of accreditation and internal quality assurance that are being promoted in Japanese universities under the guise of ‘reform’. The conference was attended by members of the above-mentioned projects, as well as a number of senior university administrators, including presidents and vice-chancellors, who had read the book [ R2]. The influence of the book was clearly evident here as well’ ( S3, translated).

Universities are now taking steps to put these recommendations into practice. For example, Kariya was invited to give a keynote speech at a symposium convened by the Kyoto University Research Administrations Office, where the (then) President of the University attended. The symposium held on 16 March 2018 was entitled the ‘Future of Humanities and Social Sciences: How research assessment schemes can contribute to further development of research’. A total of 141 researchers and staff from inside and outside the university, as well as members of the media participated. Of these attendees, 55 were from beyond Kyoto, including from Hokkaido and Okinawa ( S4) provinces. The keynote speech was based on Kariya’s research [ R2, R3], and in a discussion session after the presentation, participants, including the President, discussed the points made in the lecture. Testimony provided by the President indicates a number of subsequent reforms in his university that were influenced by Kariya’s work, especially acknowledging the importance of using academic works in Japanese for globalising their teaching:

‘Inspired by Prof Kariya’s work, we designed our plan to establish ‘Kyoto International Undergraduate Program (Kyoto IUP)’ where we invite high school students from ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries. In that newly established programme, launched two years ago, according to Prof. Kariya’s suggestion, we teach them Japanese language for the first half year, followed by classes taught in Japanese with Japanese students. His ideas also inspired us to build research collaborations with Japanese companies to create innovations by taking advantage of as well as making full use of the strengths of our Japanese language and culture’. ( S5, translated)

Changing national reporting of education and globalization issues in the media

The monograph The warning bells from Oxford [R2] has sold c.23,500 copies nationally in Japan, and book reviews have been published not only in academic journals but also in major newspapers and popular magazines with a significant national circulation. These publications include the Asahi Shinbun Newspaper, the second largest newspaper company in Japan with approximately 5,600,000 daily readers. Asahi Shinbun have a monthly review section of the most influential articles and books, and they refer to Kariya’s work on university education reforms on two occasions: once on 31 August 2017 and once on 15 December 2015 ( S6a and S6b). In an e-mail statement, an Asahi editor confirms how Kariya’s research has influenced their content production: ‘Prof Kariya’s work has provided influential views on higher education policies in Japan by relativizing our interpretations of the policies and has clarified the importance of discovering the strengths of Japanese universities in the global context’ ( S7, translated). Kariya also contributes a regular column for Tokyo Keizai, an equivalent of The Economist in the UK, where he often presents his research concerning issues of Japanese higher education. This popular weekly journal attracts approximately 90,000 subscribers from business, including executives in major Japanese companies.

The prominence of Kariya’s research in the media has directly led to changes in how the Japanese government have designed their evidence base in support of education policies. In late April 2020, the Japanese government suddenly proposed to shift the academic year to start in September (rather than the traditional April start) in an attempt to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on schoolchildren’s learning, due to the nationwide school closures in the spring of 2020. One of the cited advantages of this move was that it would bring Japan into line with Western nations’ schooling timetables. This announcement led to Kariya organising a team to explore the possible consequences of this policy [ R6]. The government had not publicly outlined any potentially adverse effects of this change, so as a counterpoint, Kariya’s research was widely reported in major national newspapers. One article in Asahi reported on its front page: ‘If Japan shifted to an academic year starting in September next year, it would face a shortage of 28,000 elementary school teachers and cost local governments close to an additional JPY300,000,000,000 (USD2,800,000,000) in the first year, according to a study conducted by a group of seven experts led by Takehiko Kariya, professor in the Sociology of Japanese Society at Oxford University’ ( S8, translated). These newspaper articles became a ‘ game-changer’ in the policy debates (according to an Asahi article from 4 June 2020) by providing cogent empirical results to predict the side effects that this hasty policy change might cause ( S9, translated).

In early June 2020, the government decided to postpone the policy without clarifying when this would be readdressed, suggesting, in the Japanese political context, that they are no longer planning to implement the proposed policy in the near future. Having seen some of his earlier media work in Tokyo Keizai, the Japanese Cabinet Office (and the Minister responsible for the Covid-19 response) invited Kariya to present his research. Presenting his analysis of a Cabinet Office survey undertaken in June 2020, Kariya argued that in order to have a full picture of the potential effect of a September start date on schools, different layers of data (from individual schools and municipality levels) needed to be collected in order to create a panel data set. In response, the Cabinet Office ordered a second survey, which was conducted and published in December 2020. Kariya’s influence on the government’s decision was confirmed by a Cabinet Office official whilst the survey was being prepared for publication:

‘According to [Kariya’s] suggestion, the Cabinet office has recently conducted the second Survey on the same issue in December 2020, in which the second survey data will be connected to the previous one as much as possible to achieve a panel data design’ ( S10, translated).

Kariya’s media work has therefore directly led to an improvement in the government’s ability to make future policy decisions based on the strongest possible evidence base.