Abstract:

Abstract. This study examines the policy effects adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the regulatory authority, on Japanese higher education, the university. It analyze using data to analyse the effects of both regional development and the improvement of the quality of education. Three hypotheses were tested regarding the MEXT's policies on quality assurance, such as increasing the number of universities, diversification of education, regional development, accreditation systems and subsidies for private education, which the MEXT has been working on since the 2000s following the relaxation of the criteria for establishing universities. The results of analysis shows that the number of students choosing regional universities did not increase, only the number of regional universities increased. In addition, small regional universities have not been able to differentiate themselves. It was confirmed that small universities are fully competitive and that the improvement in the quality of education has not been a factor in increasing the number of students at regional universities.

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