Academic Apartheid

The Official Word--Translated into English

By David Aldwinckle


These are two key pages translated and transliterated from the Dai 4 Ki Daigaku Shingikai Toushin Houkoku Shuu (第4期大学審議会答申報告集), or "The Governmental Study Group on Universities' Fourth Report", dated H.7 November. On page 9, item 6, the last item under "Policies for Improving the Hiring of Educators" (kyouin saiyou ni tsuite no kaizen housaku), comes the telling policy statement: "Hiring of Foreigners" (gaikokujin no saiyou). Original Japanese jpegged here.

This is going to be a challenge for me to translate, but I'll organize this posting to you as follows:

Corrections to my translation are welcome.


A) Rough Translation of the Shingikai Statement

HIRING OF FOREIGNERS

SUMMARY: In order to contribute to the world's technological research and the training of able people, it is necessary to hire aggressively (sekkyoku teki ni) even more foreign educators. Concerning fixed time periods of employment (ninki) for foreign employees (based upon the Employment Appointments for Foreign Educators Law), whether or not it is possible to affix fixed terms when employing foreigners, it is desirable that this policy be put into practice properly, based upon the individual conditions of each foreign teacher.

(THE PRESENT SITUATION)

1) For some time now, it has been an issue whether national or public universities can employ foreigners formally (seiki) as educators. However, in Showa 57, the Employment Appointments for Foreign Educators Law (gaikokujin kyouin ninyou hou) was enacted for national and public universities as a special measure dealing with appointments for foreigners. This paved the way for foreigners to be employed as regular staff, as well as full professors, assistant professors, and instructors. From Heisei 5 July 1 up to now, national universities, including their affiliated institutions, have employed 279 foreign educators.

2) As for fixed terms for foreign educators, this item has now come under Employment Appointments for Foreign Educators Law article 2 section 3, "items falling under the jurisdiction of university administration" (daigaku kanri kikan no sadameru tokoro ni yoru). Assigning fixed time periods of employment or not to foreign employees is the autonomous decision of each university, but it turns out that in effect a great number of national universities have since given fixed terms to their foreign educators. Out of the above-mentioned 279 foreign university employees, 254 have fallen under fixed terms, while 25 have not.

The reason why universities and affiliated research institutions have been empowered to fix terms for foreign educators is because there was a necessity to give consideration to the conditions for both foreign educator and their employer. However, this present uniform treatment of affixing terms has instead given rise to problems in the promotion of smooth international communication (mushiro enkatsu na kokusai kouryuu o susumete iku ue de mondai to natteiru to no mondai mo aru).

3) Furthermore, at national universities, in addition to the system for foreign educators, there is now a system for foreign instructors officially employed at national schools (kokuritsu gakkou), by contract under the National Public Employment Law article 2 section 7 (from H 6 Jan 1 up to the present day, there are 371 employed). In addition, in private universities, foreigners are employed the same as Japanese, with laborers' contracts (roudou keiyaku).

(MEASURES TO BE TAKEN)

4) Tomorrow's universities will have great demands placed upon them. Not only will the world demand countributions from our country to technological research and the nurturing of human capital, but also it will be necessary to pursue international standards for technological research and education. In order to do this, it is essential for universities to open their employment of university educators to the world, and it is demanded that they provide an entrance for foreign educators which transcends borders and promotes active education and research.

Each university is doing the best they can to increase their number of foreign educators, but from the point of view of internationalizing and energizing (kassei ka) university research and education, it is expected that they themselves will deal with the problem of aggressively employing more and more foreign educators from now on.

5) Finally, as for what should be done about each university's hiring policy for foreigners, it should be done on a case-by-case, individual basis. Whether or not to hire them with or without fixed terms is something which should be put into practice properly, based upon possibilities at hand.

Furthermore, as for private universities, it is common practice for foreign teachers to be hired on either termless posts, as per the Labor Standards Law, or else with terms that last for less than a year. However, it is desirable for them to pave the way for contracts similar to those for national or public universities, with term limits of over one year. This problem is relevant to the larger topic of term limits for educators, and it will be suitable for further consideration at a future date.


B) Comment

Notice that the shingikai is NOT trying to stop this scabrous contractual term limits for foreign teachers in national and public universities (they even note how far the abuse has gone). Moreover, they are even trying to get the private universities to follow suit. They decry how much kokusaika is necessary yet still enable national and public universities to get around it. Sounds to me like a bad-faith negotiation.



C) Original Japanese Transliteration

(for those who can't get the jpegged Japanese)

GAIKOKUJIN NO SAIYOU

SUMMARY: gakujutsu kenkyuu to jinzai yousei no men de sekai ni kouken suru tame, gaikokujin no kyouin o issou sekkyoku teki ni saiyou suru hitsuyou ga aru. Gaikokujin kyouin ninyou hou ni moto zuku gaikokujin kyouin no ninki ni tsuite wa, gaikokukjin kyouin no ko ko (kojin no ko) no jijou ni oojite, saiki o tsukeru saiyou mo, ninkin o tsukenai saiyou mo izure mo kanou de aru koto o fumaete, tekisetsu na unyou o okonau koto ga nozomareru.

(GENJOU TO KADAI)

1) Kokkou ritsu daigaku ni gaikokujin o seiki no kyouin to shite saiyou dekiru you ni suru koto ga chounen no kadai de attaga, shouwa 57 nen ni kokuritsu mata wa kouritsu no daigaku ni okeru gaikokujin kyouin no ninyou nado ni kansuru tokubetsu sochi hou (ikou "gaikokujin kyouin ninyou hou" to iu) ga seitei sare, gaikokujin o ippan shoku no koumuin to shite kyouju, jokyouju, mata wa kyoushi ni saiyou dekiru michi ga hirakareta. Heisei 5 nen 7 gatsu 1 ppi genzai, kokuritsu daigaku (daigaku kyoudou riyou kanki o fukumu) no gaikokujin kyouin no zaishoku sha suu wa, 279 mei to natte iru.

2) Gaikokujin kyouin no ninki ni tsuite wa, gaikokujin kyouin ninyou hou 2 jou dai 3 ko de "daigaku kanri kikan no sadameru tokoro ni yoru) to sarete ori, ninki o tsukeru ka tsukenai ka wa kaku daigaku no jishu teki na handan de aru ga, jittai to shite wa ooku no kokuritsu daigaku ni oite gaikokujin kyouin ni ninki wo tsukete ori, senshutsu (saki noberu) no koku ritsu daigaku ni okeru gaikokujin kyouin 279 nin no uchi, ninki ga tsuketeiru hito ga 254 nin, ninki ga tsuite inai mono ga 25 nin de aru.

Gaikokujin kyouin ni ninki o tsukeru koto ga dekiru koto to natte iru no wa, saiyou sareru gaikokujin kyouin ya sono shozoku kenkyuu kikan nado no jijou o kouryo suru hitsuyou ga atta koto nado ni yoru. shikashi, genzai de wa ichiritsu ni ninki o tsukeru you na tori atsukai o suru koto ga, mushiro enkatsu na kokusai kouryuu o susumete iku ue de mondai to natte iru no shiteki mo aru.

3) Nao, kokuritsu daigaku ni oite wa, gaikokujin kyouin no seido no hoka, kokka koumuin hou dai 2 jou dai 7 ko ni kisei sareru kinmu no keiyaku ni yori koyou sareru gaikokujin kyoushi (heisei 6 nen 1 gatsu 1 ppi genzai, kokuritsu gakkou ni wa 371 mei zaishoku) no seido nado ga aru. Mata, shi ritsu daigaku de wa, gaikokujin no saiyou wa nihonjin no baai to douyou, roudou keiyaku ni yori okonawarete iru.

4) Kore kara no daigaku wa, gakujutsu kenkyuu to jinzai yousei no men de wagakuni no minarazu sekai ne kouken shite iku koto ga motomerare, gakujutsu kenkyuu men ya kyouiku men ni oite sekaiteki suijun o tsuikyuu shite iku koto ga hitsuyou de aru. Kono tame ni wa, daigaku ga kyouin saiyou no men de mo sekai ne hirakareteiru koto ga juuyou de ari, gaikokujin ni kyouin e no monko ga hirakare, kokkyou no waku o koete kappatsu na kyouiku kenkyuu ga suishin sareru koto ga motomerareru.

Kaku daigaku no doryoku ni yori gaikokujin no kyouin no kazu mo sidai ni zouka shite kite iru ga, daigaku no kyouiku kenkyuu no kokusaika ya kasseika to iu kanten kara, kongo to mo gaikokujin no kyouiku no saiyou ni issou sekkyoku teki ni tori kumu koto ga kitai sareru.

5) Mata, kaku daigaku ni oite gaikokujin kyouin o saiyou suru ni atatte wa, gaikokujin kyouin no ko ko no jijou ni oojite, ninki o tsukeru saiyou mo, ninki o tsuketenai saiyou mo izure mo kanou de aru koto o fumaete, tekisetu na unyou o okonau koto ga nozomareru.

Japanese Readers: Please Check This Last Paragraph

Nao, kaku daigaku ni oite gaikokujin no kyouin wa, roudou kijun hou ni moto zuki kikan no sadame no nai koyou mata wa 1 nen inai no koyou no izure ka ni yori okonawareteiru ga, kokkou ritsu daigaku no baai to douyou ni 1 nen ijou no ninki o tsukete saiyou suru michi o hiraku koto ga nozomareru. Kono mondai ni tsuite wa, kyouin no ninki sei no kadai to mo kanren suru mono de ari, kongou sono kadai o kentou suru naka de tori atsukau koto ga tekitou de aru.

Sincerely, David Aldwinckle in Sapporo, Japan.


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