Japanese Government Will Cut Subsidy if Universities Don’t Consider Abolishing Liberal Arts

Wall Street Journal reports, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is promoting the reformation of national universities and calling for public schools to redefine the purpose of education and restructure courses.

The Japanese Minister of Education Hakubun Shimomura suggests 86 national universities abolish their colleges of humanities and social science that are considered to have low productivity. He also emphasizes the importance of cultivating professional skills.

Subsidy for universities will be allocated according to the school’s support level of Abe’s new visions. According to a survey issued in July 17 by NHK, over 80 percent of national universities agree on the abolition or merge of liberal arts and related colleges.

China Times reports, Abe’s assertion of abolishing liberal arts appears to be related to the long recession of Japanese economy. With the collapse of the lifetime employment system, Japanese companies expect universities to take on the responsibilities of pre-training college students.

China Times reports, Susumu Satomi, the chair of Japan Association of National University and the principal of Tohoku University, said in a press conference in June that saying liberal arts are worthless lacks foresight. He points out that many managers and government officials are law and economy graduates, and the internet industry has even more entrepreneurs with liberal arts and science backgrounds.

Researchers, including scholars from science colleges, also opposed the Minister of Education in a conference held by the Science Council of Japan in July 23, saying that the liberal arts along with science solves the many issues in the world.

Translated by June
Edited by Olivia Yang

Sources:

• China Times
• China Times
• The Wall Street Journal
• Sing Tao Daily