The curriculum reforms of the 1990s: What has changed?

This article examines curriculum reform after the 1991 revision of the Standards of Establishing Universities which abolished the distinction between general and specialized education. General education divisions were abolished and integrated into specialized education divisions. This revision resulted in the establishment of a university-wide general education committee, a reduction in the number of general education credits necessary for graduation, and the decline of general education's solid foundation in the university. Despite these changes, the status differences between general education faculty and specialized education faculty endured. Japanese universities must grapple with how a general education curriculum should be implemented in this new organizational system.