Page 122 - Open and Distance Education In Asia : Good Practice From AAOU Members

102 OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATON IN ASIA
Good Practices from AAOU Members

The background to this is, first and foremost, These elements are said to have conspired in
the issue of school education’s framework. a convoluted fashion to keep adult learners
The Japanese university and junior college out of Japan’s higher education institutions.
system is meant for full-time students who
attend right after high school graduation In more recent years however, higher
and is not suitable for employed or adult education in Japan has become increasingly
learners. The most significant barrier to open. Japan’s modern education system
adult learners’ admission is the entrance begins with the “school system” of 1872
examination system, which is tough to pass following Western Europe’s modern public
even for individuals with work experience. education concept and following the major
Then there’s the socio-economic issue. The changes to the system’s trajectory that were
principles of lifetime employment, seniority, made under the Education Ordinance of
and new graduate recruitment, which are 1879 and the revised Education Ordinance
widely recognized as features of Japan’s of 1880 to match the actual situation of the
employment structure, greatly reduce the country’s stage of development. It can be said
need for workers to return to a learning that Japan’s higher education institutions
lifestyle in the middle of their professional have developed by repeating the process of
lives (i.e., recurrent learning), and it has creating numerous educational possibilities
become extremely difficult to do even when to fulfill the educational demands of the
it is necessary. Those beliefs are not as private sector, government standardization,
powerful as they once were, but they are and system integration. The bottom-up
undoubtedly still important in the workplace. vector of diversification and dissimilation
Third, cultural aspects must be considered. and the top-down vector of standardization
People in Japan have a strong sense of and assimilation have been in conflict and
belonging to the organization to which they struggle throughout the history of Japan’s
belong, and they often feel terrible about modern education system.
resigning from work to pursue their own
education or using new qualifications earned Higher education is no exception to this. Since
as a result of education to shift occupations. the Meiji government defined the standard
This “collectivist” trait of the Japanese people of Imperial Universities, higher education
could be a major obstacle to adult education. has taken the form of new educational

The Open University of Japan (OUJ)