Abstract
Based on case studies of China and Japan, this study undertakes comparative research on major aspects of university curriculum and instruction-teaching activities of academics, their role in curriculum development, and their perceptions of these activities—between a mass and a universal higher education system. Major findings from the APA (Academic Profession in Asia) surveys administered in the two countries in 2011–2012 with a similar questionnaire provide hard data. However, the study also explores other contextual factors and drivers which might have affected the teaching activities undertaken by academics, their involvement in curriculum development, and their views of relevant activities. The paper argues that, although differences can be found in some aspects of the curriculum and instruction and academics’ participation in these activities during the shift from the mass to universal phase of higher education, seen from the two case studies, it is less clear that the differences show the impact of transforming from mass to universal education. The national contextual factors, especially the origins of higher education and ongoing national policies in both countries, appear to play a significant role in how current academics perceived the curriculum development and instruction, and their participation in these activities. More importantly, as fundamental changes do not necessarily occur in all aspects of the curriculum and instruction, as well as the academics’ views across universal and mass higher education systems, Trow’s research can only be partly applied to the analysis of the curriculum and instruction in both countries.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altbach Philip, G. (Ed.) (1996). The international academic profession: Portraits of fourteen countries.
Altbach Philip, G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley Laura, E. (2009). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution a report prepared for the UNESCO 2009 world conference on higher education (pp. 111–122). Paris: UNESCO.
Amagi, I. (Ed.). (1978). Atarashi daigakukan no souzou [Creation of a new university’s ideal] (pp. 6–7). Tokyo: Saimaru Press. (in Japanese).
Amano, I. (1986). Koutou kyouiku no nihon teki kouzou [Japanese structure of higher education]. Tokyo: Tamagawa Printing House. (in Japanese).
Amano, I. (1996). Nihon no kyouikushisutemu: kouzou to henndou [The Japanese education system: structure and changes]. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. (in Japanese).
Amano, I. (2003). Nihon no koutoukyouiku shisutemu [The Japanese higher education system]. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. (in Japanese).
Arimoto, A. (Ed.). (1996). Daigaku kyuujyusyoku no kokusai hikaku [Comparative perspectives on academic profession]. Tamagawa Printing House: Tokyo. (in Japanese).
Arimoto, A. (1997). “Massification of higher education and academic reforms in Japan”. In RIHE (Ed.). Academic reforms in the world: Situation and perspective in the massification stage of higher education (RIHE international seminar reports No. 10, pp. 21–55). Japan: Research Institute for Higher Education (RIHE), Hiroshima University.
Arimoto, A. (Ed.). (2008). The changing academic profession in Japan. Tokyo: Tamagawa University Press. (in Japanese).
Ben-David, J. (1992). Centers of learning: Britain, France, Germany, United States. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Bobbit, F. (1918). The curriculum. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Brennan, J. (2004). “The social role of the contemporary university: Contradictions, boundaries and changes”, In 10 Years on: Changing education in a changing world (p. 24). Milton Keynes: Center for Higher Education Research and Information/The Open University.
Cummings, K. W. & Santner, K. (2013).”What happened in universal education?—in the West and in Asia-“. In the report of the international conference on the changing academic profession project 2013. The changing academic profession in Asia: Teaching, research, governance and management. RIHE International seminar reports No. 20 (pp. 23–36). Hiroshima University.
De Ridder-Symoens, H. (1992). A History of the University in Europe, Vol. II. Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500–1800). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dressel, P. L. (1963). College and university curriculum. The Center for Applied Research in Education, Inc.
Eisner, E. W. (1979). The educational imagination: On the design and evaluation of school programs. New York: Macmillan.
Evelyn, J. S. (1996). Curriculum: an integrative introduction. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Goodlad, J. I and Associates (Eds.) (1979). Curriculum inquiry: The Study of curriculum practice. McGraw-Hill Book Company, p. 349.
Goodlad, J. I., & Su, Z. (1992). Organization of the curriculum. In P. W. Jackson (Ed.), Handbook of research on curriculum (pp. 327–344). New York: Macmillan.
Haworth, J. G., Lattuca, L. R., & Conrad, C. F. (Eds.). (2002). College and university curriculum: Developing and cultivating programs of study that enhance student learning. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.
Hayhoe, R. (2005). China’s universities, 1895-1995: a century of cultural conflict. The Taylor & Francis e-Library.
Hayhoe, R., et al. (2011). Portraits of 21st century Chinese universities: In the move to mass higher education. New York: Springer.
Huang, F. (2003). “A Comparative Study of Massification of Higher Education”. Higher education forum 2. Hiroshima: Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University. 115-129.
Huang, F. (2006a). “Incorporation and university governance: A comparative perspective from China and Japan”. Higher Education Management and Policy, l18(2), 35–49.
Huang, F. (2006b). Undergraduate curriculum reforms in China. A cross-national analysis of undergraduate curriculum models: Focusing on research-intensive universities, COE publication series 21 (pp. 13–26). Research Institute for Higher Education: Hiroshima University.
Huang, F. (2012). “Higher education from massification to universal access: a perspective from Japan”. Higher Education 63 (2) (pp. 257–270). Dordrecht: Springer.
Huang, F. (2013). Teaching and Curriculum Development across Countries, Chapter 4. In J. Shin, A. Arimoto, W. Cumming, & U. Teichler (Eds.), Teaching and research in contemporary higher education-systems, activities and rewards (pp. 45–57). Dordrecht: Springer.
Huang, F. (2015a). Who leads China’s leading universities? Studies in Higher Education,. doi:10.1080/03075079.2015.1034265.
Huang, F. (2015b). “General education in China and Japan-A comparative perspective”. Korean Journal of General Education, 9 (1). Seoul: Korea. 91–118.
Ichigawa, S. (Ed.). (1995). Daigaku Taisyuka no Kouzou (The structure of massification of universities) (p. 35). Tokyo: Tamagawa Press. (in Japanese).
Kitamura, K. (1999). Gendai no daigaku koutoukyouiku [Systems and functions of higher education: A comparative perspective]. Tokyo: Tamagawa Press. (in Japanese).
Lattuca, L. R. (2007). “Curricula in International Perspective”. In J. F. ForestJames & G. Altbach Philip (Eds.), International Handbook of Higher Education (pp. 39–64). Berlin: Springer.
Levin, A. (1977). Undergraduate Curriculum. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Marginson, S. (2011). “Higher education in East Asia and Singapore”. Higher Education 61(5) (pp. 587–611). Dordrecht: Springer.
MEXT. (2013). Daigaku niokeru kyouikunaiyou tono kaikaku jyoukyou nitsuite [Situation of reforms on university education], retrieved at http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/koutou/daigaku/04052801/1361916.htm (27 July 2016). (in Japanese).
MEXT. (2015). Gakkou kihon cyousa houkokusyo, koutou kyouiku kikan hen [Basic Investigation on School Education: Higher Education Institutions]. Tokyo. (in Japanese).
MOE. (2015). China Education Yearbook. Beijing: People Education Press. (in Chinese).
Perkin, H. (1991). History of universities. In P. G. Altbach (Ed.), International higher education: An encyclopedia (pp. 169–204). New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
RIHE (2015) (Ed.). The Changing Academic Profession in Asia: The Formation, Work, Academic Productivity, and Internationalization of the Academy (RIHE International Seminar Reports No.22). Research Institute for Higher Education (RIHE), Hiroshima University.
Stark, J. S., & Lattuca, L. R. (1997). Shaping the college curriculum: Academic plans in action. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development: Theory and Practice. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
Tayler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Teichler, U., Arimoto, A., & Cummings, K. (2013). Changing academic profession-major findings of a comparative survey. Dordrecht: Springer.
The University of Tokyo. (2016). The University of Tokyo outline. Retrieved at http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/content/400043049.pdf#page=10 (23 July 2016). (in Japanese).
Trow, M. (1973). “Problems in the Transition from Elite to Mass higher Education”. In OECD, Policies for Education. Paris. P. 57.
Trow, M. (1976). Elite higher education: An endangered species? Minerve, 14(3), 355–376.
Trow, M. (1979). “Elite and mass higher education: American models and European realities.” In Research into Higher Education: Process and structure. Stockholm: National Board of Universities and Colleges.
Trow, M. (1981). Comparative perspectives on access. In O. Fulton (Ed.), Access to higher education (pp. 89–121). Guildford, England: Society for Research into Higher Education.
Trow, M. (2005). Reflections on the transition from elite to mass to universal access: forms and phases of higher education in modern societies since wwii. In J. J. F. Forest & P. G. Altbach (Eds.), International handbook of higher education (pp. 243–280). Dordrecht: Springer.
UNESCO (2012). Retrieved from http://www.uis.unesco.org (February 20, 2015).
University Council. (1998). 21 Seiki no daigaku-zo to kongo no kaikakuhosaku nitsuite toshin [University image of the 21st century and reform planning ahead]. Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/old_chukyo/old_daigaku_index/toushin/1315917.htm. (March 12, 2015) (in Japanese).
Ushiogi, M. (2007). “A Japanese Perspective of the Humboldt’s Mythos”. In Daigaku Ronsyu 38. Research in Higher Education, Hiroshima University, pp.171–187. (in Japanese).
Wei, X., & Li, W. (2000). Report on the demand, supply, scale and growth speed of higher education in China. Beijing: Institute of Higher Education Research, Beijing University.
Yoshida, A. (2013). Daigaku to kyouyou kyouiku [University and Liberal Arts Education: Searching for the Japanese Type of Liberal Education in the Post-War Period]. Iwanami Press. (in Japanese).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Part of the variables employed in this study are also used in Futao Huang (2016). "A Comparatuve Study of Academic Staff Teaching Activities between Japan and China: Based on national surveys in 2011-2012". In RIHE (Ed.), International Seminar Reports No. 23. Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, F. The impact of mass and universal higher education on curriculum and instruction: case studies of China and Japan. High Educ 74, 507–525 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0061-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0061-5