Abstract
Abstract. This study examines the policy effects adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the regulatory authority, on Japanese higher education, the university. It analyze using data to analyse the effects of both regional development and the improvement of the quality of education. Three hypotheses were tested regarding the MEXT's policies on quality assurance, such as increasing the number of universities, diversification of education, regional development, accreditation systems and subsidies for private education, which the MEXT has been working on since the 2000s following the relaxation of the criteria for establishing universities. The results of analysis shows that the number of students choosing regional universities did not increase, only the number of regional universities increased. In addition, small regional universities have not been able to differentiate themselves. It was confirmed that small universities are fully competitive and that the improvement in the quality of education has not been a factor in increasing the number of students at regional universities.
Keywords. Competition; University; Policy effect; Differentiation.
JEL. M10; I21; I23; I26.References
Becker, G.S. (1964). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education, National Bureau of Economic Research, New York.
Chamberlin, E.H. (1933). Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Harvard University Press.
Duyar, I., Gumus, S., & Bellibas, M.S. (2013). Multilevel analysis of teacher work attitudes, International Journal of Education Management, 27, 700-719. doi. 10.1108/IJEM-09-2012-0107
Epple, D., & Romano, R.E. (1998). Competition between private and public schools, vouchers, and group effects, American Economic Review, 88(1), 33-62.
Hanushek, E.A., & Welch, F. (2006). Handbook of the Economics of Education, 1 and 2. North Holland, Amsterdam.
Hanushek, E.A., Machin, S., & Woessmann, L. (2011). Handbook of the Economics of Education, 3 and 4. North Holland, Amsterdam.
Hanushek, E.A., Rivkin, S.G., & Schiman, J.C. (2016). Dynamic effects of teacher turnover on the quality of instruction, Economics of Education Review 55, 132-148. doi. 10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.08.004
Hill, P.W., & Rowe, K.J. (1996). Multilevel modeling in school effectiveness research, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 7(1), 1-34. doi. 10.1080/0924345960070101
Panzar, J.C., & Rosse, J.N. (1987). Testing for ‘monopoly’ equilibrium, Journal of Industrial Economics, 35(4), 443-456. doi. 10.2307/2098582
Yuzuru, M. (1997). Evaluation of Urban Redevelopment Project using Monopolistic Competition Theory, Mimeo. (in Japanese).
Yoshiro, T. (2000). Industrial Organization of Banking Industry, Mimeo. (in Japanese).
Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, 2016. "Application trends at private universities and junior colleges", Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, Private Management Information Center. (in Japanese).