Discusses the impact of internationalization, marketization and national policies on the Japanese academic profession

Preface.- Prologue: The Changing Academic Profession in Japan: its past and present. Akira Arimoto.- 1. Higher Education Policy and Academic Profession. Yoshimasa Kano.- 2. Mobility. Atsunori Yamanoi.- 3. Academic Funding and Allocation of Research Money. Akihiro Asonuma.- 4. Changes in University Teachers' View towards Students: Impact of Universalization. Naoyuki Ogata.- 5. Gender Bias: what has changed for Female Academics? Naomi Kimoto.- 6. Governance, Administration and Management. Masashi Fujimura.- 7. Labor Conditions. Hirotaka Nanbu and Tomomi Amano. 8. Working Time and Personal Strain. Yusuke Hasegawa.- 9. Research Productivity: Tsukasa Daizen.- 10. Teaching and Research in the Academic Profession: Nexus and Conflict. Hideto Fukudome.- 11. Academic Profession and Evaluation. Masataka Murasawa.- 12. Internationalization. Futao Huang.- 13. Higher Education and Society. Hirotoshi Yamasaki. 14. The Academic Profession: A Comparison between Japan and Germany. Ulrich Teichler.- 15. The Invisible Academy: A U.S. Perspective on The Japanese Academic Profession. William K. Cummings.- 16. Similar but Different Worlds: A Korean Perspective on The Japanese Academic Profession. Jung C. Shin.- Epilogue Perspective of the Academic Profession. Akira Arimoto.

This volume provides an empirical and qualitative analysis of the nature and extent of the Japanese academic profession, with a special focus on the changes that occurred in the period between 1992 and 2007. Based on responses to two comprehensive surveys administered to faculty samples with a similar questionnaire, the book presents key aspects of the academic activities and views of Japanese faculty members. Divided into five sections, the book describes the changing social, economic and educational environment, academic organization and life, productivity, as well as the effects of the profession on society. The last section describes the Japanese academic profession as observed from the USA and Asia. In addition to its focus on empirical analysis, the book makes use of historical and comparative perspectives to explore the various aspects of the changes that have occurred in the academic profession in this non-English-speaking country.