November 13, 2015
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2015 November 11 - 17 [SOCIAL ISSUES]
JCP Hatano talks with univ. president over gov’t plan to cut subsidies to national universities |
The national government has been reducing its funding for public universities’ operating expenses while increasing the amount of competitive research funds for universities. In October, the Finance Ministry announced a plan to further cut the amount of subsidies and request universities to increase their tuition. Following this announcement, the Japan Association of National Universities on November 2 in its general assembly adopted a resolution criticizing the plan. It is quite rare for the 86-member association to criticize government plans.
In the meeting with Hatano, YNU President Hasebe Yuichi explained that the amount of state grants to the university was slashed by 740 million yen or 9% over the past ten years, and that the university now has difficulty in securing research funds, offering financial support to students, and carrying out maintenance and renovations of facilities.
The president said that national universities have a social responsibility to provide stable academic environments to young researchers, but universities are unable to employ permanent staff by using competitive research funds which are granted only for short-term projects. Stating that all national universities are experiencing great anxiety, he stressed that further decrease in state subsidies is unacceptable.
Hatano, a YNU graduate, in reply said that the JCP urges the Finance Ministry to withdraw the subsidy-cut plan, and expressed her determination to do her utmost to have the plan canceled.
Past related articles:
> Finance Ministry requires national universities to double their tuition [October 28, 2015]
> National university deans issue protest against gov’t call for closure of humanities and social sciences courses [October 27, 2015]
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