The Working Environment for Research in U.S. and Japanese Universities Contrasts and Commonalities (1989) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix: Keynote Addresses
Appendix: Keynote Addresses
Pages 37-51
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From page 37... ...
Sogo Okamura, professor at lblyo Denld University and former dean of the School of Engineering at Tokyo University. The workshop, held at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California, was opened with keynote addresses by Drs.
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The United States followed a similar strategy in the last century and early part of this one. As those people who had gone abroad from the United States to acquire scientific and technical knowledge returned from
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In a sense, the cultural propensity of Japan for perfection, for step-by-step improvement, was ideally suited for the style of innovation needed in these phases of industrial evolution. Today, as Japan talks of moving more and more toward basic research, I believe it is an open question of whether or not the results will be similar to the earlier experience in the United States, given the quite different cultural soil nurturing the efforts.
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DeAngelis points out that for all of the extensive courtesy accorded guests in Japanese institutions, `'as long as [this] courtesy implies always treating outsiders as 'honored guests,' who by definition deserve better and special treatment than everyone else, then courtesy will also be used as a tool to keep people at a distance." Thus the job is daunting but immeasurably important.
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Far more important is the issue of where Japan's research strengths will grow. If basic, precompetitive research grows mainly in industrial labs or in programs, such as the International Superconductivity Technology Center (ISTEC)
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And once in the "pipeline," as we call it, the attrition rates are high, especially at the bachelor's level. We thus have too few domestic graduate students in science and engineering and have come to depend on a strong flow of foreign nationals for our graduate student population.
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From page 43... ...
It has several notable characteristics: it is relatively open with only modest direct advantages to the sponsors and participants compared to others; it is relatively inexpensive to participate; and it is not usually highly focused. The Japanese forms of cooperative industrial R&D have been quite different.
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universities people who could bring the most advanced results of Japanese research from industrial and government labs so U.S. campuses.
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Of these, 96 were national universities established by Monbusho, 37 were public universities set up by prefectural or municipal governments, and 342 were private institutions. Of the 475 universities, 288 had graduate schools, 198 of which included a Ph.D.
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From page 46... ...
Nevertheless, one of the most successful projects, I believe, was the establishment of the National Interuniversity Research Institutes. Most of these institutes focus on the natural sciences, particularly the so-called "big sciences" such as accelerator theory, space, fusion, and Antarctic research, but creative research in engineering has been rather ignored.
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From page 47... ...
It is only fairly recently that the Japanese government has come to recognize the importance of basic research and the need for international cooperation in such endeavors. The basic principles of Japan's current science and technology policy are founded on a cabinet resolution of March 1986 called "General Guidelines for Science and Technology Policy." This resolution was based on the recommendations of the Council for Science and Technology in a report entitled Comprehensive Fundamental Policy for the Promotion of Science and Technology Focus on the Current Changing Situation from a Long-term Perspecave of November 1984.
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From page 48... ...
National universities and related research institutes are funded by Monbusho, which covers expenses for personnel and management, research and education activities, and the construction of research and education facilities. Research and education activities are funded by general funds or
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"Since each professor receives an equal amount of funds available for general research support, some funds go to faculty members who are not actually pursuing serious research." General funds are, however, more flexible than specific funds, which must be used as set forth in the proposal submitted to Monbusho. It is extremely difficult to adjust specific funds to research progress.
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Quite a few university professors become project leaders, advisers, or investigators in government-sponsored projects or join academic society research committees where university and industry researchers conduct research jointly. Industry also asks university professors for free advice.
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51 mind Japan must maintain funding mechanisms that are flexible enough to be useful in pursuing a program of international cooperation. Japan's international relations started only about a hundred years ago.
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