Government, Policy, and Ideology analyzes the transformation of the university systems of England and Japan from the early 1980s, with particular reference to the changing modalities of university autonomy and the power relationships between central authorities, the universities, and the market. The analysis compares the various policy positions of the relevant stakeholders in the two countries, highlighting the ideologies of neo-liberalism, university autonomy, and new managerialism. These ideologies coexist in both the English and the Japanese university systems. However, the interpretations of these ideologies made by stakeholders, the patterns of the interrelations between them, and their contextualization as elements in the policy and stance of each stakeholder differ between England and Japan. The book argues that convergence between the English and Japanese university systems is, to a large extent, explained in the transformation of the university system in England during the 1980s, and the continuity of the Ministerial jurisdictional mechanism in Japan.
A fascinating study of two higher education systems - England and Japan - subject to many of the same pressures during a period of great change, showing where their responses have been similar and where they have diverged. -- Malcolm Tight, professor, Lancaster University This book will be of great interest to university advisors and researchers in the fields of higher education policy and management in the United Kingdom and Japan. As a contextual study, it provides illuminating and insightful reading about the changing landscapes of the higher education sectors in both countries since the 1980s. -- Felicity Rawlings-Sanaei, Ph.D., University of New South Wales The contribution of ideology has not often been considered in any detail. This important comparative study of two islands at opposite corners of the Euro-Asian land mass claims that ideology has been at the heart of many policy initiatives. A must for students and researchers seeking to understand the evolution of higher education policy in the two countries and the part played by differing political ideologies. -- Gareth Williams, emeritus professor of educational administration, Institute of Education, University of London








