A plan to create an elite group of institutes has surprised researchers as government makes Tohoku University the sole recipient of grant. A plan to create an elite group of institutes has surprised researchers as government makes Tohoku University the sole recipient of grant.
The government stirred up a hornet’s nest with its plans to revamp the outspoken Science Council of Japan by involving a third-party panel in the body’s member selection process.
Japan’s University Endowment Fund to spur other institutions
Government is hoping to foster U.S.-style funds at country s universities
Bloomberg
The giant ¥10 trillion ($91.1 billion) University Endowment Fund that Japan plans to launch in March to reverse a downtrend in the country s output of cutting-edge academic research will also promote the emergence of U.S.-style endowment funds as a key component of Japanese university finances, government officials say.
The ambition is more than just managing the ¥10 trillion the government has pledged for the fund, said Sho Ito, the Tokyo-based bureaucrat in charge of the program as deputy director of the Cabinet Office s Bureau of Science, Technology and Innovation, in a recent interview. We want to change Japanese universities and we want to change (Japan s) investment culture as well, he said.