Staff Profile

Higher education theories

I have worked on the possibility of (1) development of higher education (academic freedom and university autonomy) through the involvement of universities in community activities and (2) development of local communities (local autonomy) through their involvement in university activities. I conduct these studies while focusing on contradictions between local communities’ rationale for the establishment of universities and the realities of those universities. These topics came to attract public attention only relatively recently even though they have been covered in UNESCO and OECD policy documents on higher education for some time. In Japan, many aspects are yet to be clarified, except in regard to learning movements by farmers and others and about comments made by researchers at public universities and other organizations. To explore the origins of community university theories, I focus on the development of public university theories, their significance and positions in general university theories during the same periods.