Japan Press Weekly

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2015 October 21 - 27 [POLITICS]

National university deans issue protest against gov’t call for closure of humanities and social sciences courses

A group of humanities and social sciences school deans at 17 national universities on October 26 submitted to Education Minister Hase Hiroshi a statement in protest against the ministry’s notification calling for terminating graduate and undergraduate programs in the humanities and social sciences and in teacher training. This is the first official protest over this issue.

The Education Ministry in June sent to all national universities in Japan the notification which requires either eliminating humanities departments or converting them to areas that “better meet society’s needs”.

The statement points out that the study in the fields of humanities and social sciences contributes to forming a fundamental understanding of society and that putting less importance on studying those subjects could shake the foundations of human resources development.

At a press conference after the submission of the statement, Yoshida Masaaki, dean of the faculty of arts at Shinshu University, said, “Learned knowledge benefits society in a myriad of ways over the long term.”

Mie University dean of the faculty of humanities, law and economics, Goto Motoi said, “The ministry’s notification lacks a clear vision of the university’s fundamental role as educational and research institutions.”

Past related article:
> Education Ministry instructs national universities to reduce humanities and social science courses [June 10, 2015]