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

variety of fields, as central strongholds of education and research, and moreparticularly beefing up their funding. Under the policy of implementationchiefly by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the project will bepushed forward with a view to its materialization from the fiscal year 2002.Further, with regard to the legal position of national universities, a shift intheir status as institutions that belong directly to the government toindependent administrative institutions is planned. The reason behind thisinclude the fact that numerous other government research institutions havealready made such a shift, as well as the fact that it is in line with theGuidelines for Central Government Reform being pursued by thegovernment as a whole. For this to come about, the establishment ofsuitable configurations for the promotion of university reform as it has beenpursued up to now with the objective of enriching education and research isseen as vital. At present the idea is to achieve policy decisions by 2003, anddiscussions are being held amongst parties concerned.Transforming universities into independent administrative institutionsIn January 1999, the government created the Guidelines for CentralGovernment Reform and decided that some national institutions would betransformed into independent administrative institutions as part of thisprocess. This entails granting government organizations corporate statusand having them operate on the basis of self-responsibility andprivate-sector management practices such as corporate accounting andperformance-based wages, thus ensuring more flexible and efficientgovernment. When the Guidelines were determined, shifting nationaluniversities to independent administrative institution status was an issueleft pending, but in the fall of 1999, the government decided to institutespecial measures to take national universities in that direction.It has also been decided by Cabinet Resolution that the issue of transfer ofstatus should be considered as part of university reform, and deliberationsare underway, incorporating debates on university reform that had beengoing on before the administrative reform issues arose. These include thecreation of internationally competitive universities, more dynamicuniversity operation, the development of more individual universities, and86