Leaders of Japan's best universities have long maintained that their biggest problem is simply a lack of money compared with their counterparts in the West. If only the government would give them more funds, it is said, they will turn themselves into ‘centres of excellence’ in research and teaching through ‘self-evaluation’.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Although Japan's best universities do harbour some brilliant researchers and teachers, they, like French institutions (see above), suffer from intellectual sclerosis caused by an existence that is too comfortable by half. They also need greater freedom from the bureaucratic strait-jacket placed on them by the education ministry and university administrators — who are often seconded from the ministry to ensure that the university stays in line with government policy.

The administrative reform council of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has made a radical proposal to meet the need for reform by converting some of Japan's national universities into more independent and accountable ‘agencies’ (see page 897). But the proposal has been quickly stamped on by the universities, the education ministry that oversees them, and Akito Arima, one of Japan's principal proponents of reform and external review. The universities are clearly concerned that such a move would deprive them of guaranteed government funding and will open them to public scrutiny, revealing the enormous waste that goes on in the system. There is also a genuine concern that Japan's universities are simply not ready for such drastic reform — they might be unable to cope with their new-found freedom. But if Japanese universities are truly to become world-class centres of excellence, they must accept healthy public scrutiny while taking on more responsibility for their financial affairs.