"JSPS External Review Report" was issued.(PDF File 1.22MB)

up posts at Japanese universities and other research institutions.Of those foreigners working in Japan as fulltime researchers, in FY1999,4,776 were employed as university staff, or 3.2 percent of nationwideuniversity staff numbers (147,579). Moreover, while staff working atnational or private universities are regarded as national or local civilservants, under the Law on Special Measures Concerning the Appointmentof Foreign Teaching Staff to National and Public Universities, foreigners toocan be appointed to these posts.Promoting understanding of scienceTo achieve the “nation based on creativity of science and technology” cited inthe Basic Plan, public trust and support for science and technology areessential, while highly creative human resources must be fostered. In recentyears, however, young people have drifted away from science and technology,as well as science courses, and urgent measures need to be taken to redressthis situation.This growing lack of interest in science, technology and science courses isapparent in international surveys. According to an OECD internationalsurvey, in terms of the percentage of the public interested in science andtechnology, Japan came in lowest of all 14 countries surveyed. TheInternational Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievementsurvey similarly found that while Japanese students achieved high results,the percentage of students who liked or enjoyed studying science was amongthe lowest internationally, as was the percentage of students who thoughtthat science was an important part of daily life or that they would like to doa job using science.To address this situation, MEXT developed the “We Love Science, andTechnology” Plan, implementing the following programs.* Super Science High SchoolsHigh schools or combined junior and senior high schools developingcurricula with an emphasis on science and mathematics, or joint researchtogether with universities, etc., are designated as “super science high160