Page 25 - Japanese Growth and Education: 演講人：Motohisa Kaneko教授

Japan’s Development and Education - Past, Present and Future -c125

Resource mobilization

The other aspect is educational policies and finance. As was stated above,
the expansion of secondary and higher education Japan was made possible with
substantial contribution from the household. It was possible in so far as the

household income kept growing. With the slowdown of growth rate since the
1990s, the household has become less capable to support the costs. In fact, the
proportion of students that used the national loan scheme for university students,

which hovered around 10 percent level until 1990, increased steadily to almost
reach the 50 percent by 2010.
Meanwhile, the focus of educational development should be shifting

from quantitative expansion to qualitative enhancement, particularly in higher
education. That would naturally require significant resources. However, the
prospect of the government to contribute resources is remote provided with the

present financial stringency. However, past experiences in Japan, or elsewhere in
the world, indicate that the market mechanism is not suitable in inducing better
quality.

This again leads to e quandary that is beyond the scope of this paper.
The relation between education and economy has shifted throughout the
process of economic development in Japan. It is shifting again, and we do not

know exactly how it would look like eventually. But come to think of it, the
past shifts should have not been easy. It is with this conviction that we keep
struggling to fine a fresh form of the relation.