Costs of education reform
(From The Japan Times March 6 issue)

教育改革の長期的影響

    Consequently, the whole nation has long been obsessed with education, with the University of Tokyo as the ultimate goal. However, an absence of government scholarships, recent steep fee increases at national universities and cuts in government financial aid to students are denying students with limited means a springboard to career opportunities. This endangers the egalitarianism that has driven postwar growth.

    Annual tuition fees at Japanese universities are among the highest in the world. Those at national universities, which were a readily affordable ¥36,000 in 1975, have risen 15-fold over three decades to a daunting ¥536,000 after a further increase last year. This figure, according to a survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, is more than double the average fees of state universities in the United States. The ministry, however, seems intent on pushing fees higher.

    In a Diet debate last year, a senior ministry official spoke of the importance of closing the gap with private institutions so as not to be "unfair to students who attend private universities," whose fees average ¥807,000. "Let the recipients bear the cost of education" is the guiding principle of the ministry — a principle that academics say was first proposed by a government panel in 1975, but has of late been embraced under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's market-driven "reform" program.

    A year before last year's fee increase, the government abolished the only avenue of free tertiary education, which was available to those who went into the teaching profession. Now, the only financial aid available to Japanese students are loans of between ¥30,000 and ¥100,000 per month from a semigovernmental corporation. Some students qualify for interest-free loans, but a majority must pay interest on their "debt."

    Applying market principles to these loans, the government is putting pressure on borrowers in arrears to pay up, using private collection firms. This is harsh and shortsighted, in comparison with the British system, which does not demand repayment until a student's income reaches a certain level and the repayment schedule can be pushed back almost indefinitely.

    In contrast, the Japanese policy could put undue financial pressure on students and make higher education inaccessible to those with limited means — especially those who must live away from home. Academic standards are suffering because most students work part time to help pay their way, leaving them less time and energy to devote to their studies.

    Moreover, in the absence of university-owned student accommodations, an increasing number of students live at home to minimize expenditures, making it harder for them to become independent of parental protection and influences. "This is a problem in the development of teenagers into adulthood," said a professor emeritus of Chiba University.

    Yet the government seems blind to the long-term social and academic costs of the policy, which will undoubtedly have economic consequences in the future. Former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun, expressed concern that Japan could end up as "a laissez-faire society" reminiscent of Victorian Britain, with life becoming harder for the less privileged. As a result, feelings of inequality might pervade society and young people who were denied education opportunities — and hence career opportunities — could lose motivation.

    Japan, Rwanda and Madagascar are the only three of the United Nations' 151 member countries that have not ratified the clause in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights committing them to "the progressive introduction of free higher education," and "accessibility" of it to "all."

    In 2001, Japan spent 0.5 percent of GDP on higher education — only one-third of Canada's spending and nearly half of that in the United States. If the government aims to cut this further, it will put Japan in danger of losing international competitiveness. In the United States, the model for the open market economy, the federal government annually budgets nearly ¥1 trillion for scholarships. No such scholarships are available to Japanese students in Japan.

The Japan Times Weekly
March 11, 2006
(C) All rights reserved

    しかし近年は、政府奨学金の不備、国立大の授業料引き上げなどで経済的に恵まれない学生が成功への切符を入手することが難しくなった。

    1975年には3万6000円だった国立大学の年間授業料は30年間で15倍増の53万6000円、米州立大学平均の2倍以上になっている。授業料引き上げは、構造改革を推進する小泉政権の下で「受益者負担」の原則に後押しされた。

    政府は04年に、教職につく大学生を対象とした授業料免除制度を廃止した。現在は独立行政法人により貸与される月額3万〜10万円の奨学金（大部分は有利子）が唯一の公的支援である。

    このような状況で、多くの学生が学費や生活費のためにアルバイトせざるを得ないため、学力は低下している。また出費節約のために実家を出られず、自立できない学生もいる。

    現在の教育政策が国家の将来に深刻な影響を及ぼすのは明らかだが、政府はその問題に注意を払っていない。

    宮澤元首相は、このままでは日本はビクトリア朝時代の英国のような「自由放任社会」になり、弱者にとって苦しい時代を迎えると警告している。その結果、不公平感が社会に広がり、教育を受ける機会を奪われた若い世代が意欲をなくす恐れがある。

    国際人権規約は無償高等教育の漸進的導入により、全国民に均等な教育機会を与えることを目指しているが、批准していないのは国連加盟国151ヵ国のうち日本、ルワンダ、マダガスカルだけだ。

    01年の日本の高等教育に対する公的支出はGNPの0.5%で、カナダの3分の1、米国の半分だった。このままでは日本は国際競争力を失う恐れがある。米連邦政府は年間約1兆円を奨学金に支出している。日本に同様の制度はない。