Higher Education Research Office

Haruo Kimura Haruo Kimura Research Manager

The environment surrounding higher education is now undergoing dramatic change to meet the needs of globalization, technological innovation, and society. How should instruction and learning in higher education respond to these changes?
How should these changes be assessed and applied in subsequent instruction and learning? Based on studies of the growth and development of children in elementary and secondary education, the Higher Education Research Office researches and develops how higher education can effectively promote and strengthen self-directed discovery, inquiring learning, and problem-solving for all learners in the changing social environment and proposes practical solutions for educational issues in the field. We communicate our vision of socially relevant higher education and view of its current state in dialogue with other stages of education and provide a forum for discussion to improve education in Japan now and in the future.

Research Themes

The Higher Education Research Office scientifically studies environments of higher education that develop and strengthen the ability to continue learning and proposes ways to reform higher education to support the transition to society. Research and development focuses on the following:

  • ・research on factors that elicit learners' independence and ways to support them
  • ・development of comprehensive methodologies involving "goals-instruction-assessment" in higher education
  • ・research on ways of learning through vocational education, development, and the transition to society, and research and development in various areas in line with current issues involving the reform in higher education

Survey on University Learning and Self-Development

How has university education changed in response to various organizational reforms implemented since the 1990s? How does learning at university contribute to the lives of learners? By considering these questions from the perspective of learners and reflecting on reforms in university education, this survey seeks a view of university education in the future.

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