New Dimension of Higher Education : Significance of Being a Short-term' university'

特別寄稿論文
短期大学、大学の社会的環境の変化が、人口減少に拠るばかりでなく、社会的期待への即応性を厳しく迫られるという現実の中で進行している。そういう意味において、設置者の差異を問わず短期大学も大学も淘汰に曝されることになった。国際的交流という文脈においても連携と淘汰は表裏一体を為して我が国の短期大学、大学の在り方に決定的な影響を及ぼすと考えられる。 本稿では大学の本質と短期大学の課題とを社会的環境の変化の中における存在意義から問い返したい。
A change in the social setting of the junior college and the university is in progress not only due to the population decline but also in the reality that conformity to the societal expectations is severely urged. In that sense, both the junior college and the university, regardless of their institutional category, have been exposed to brutal competition. Also in the context of international interchange, it is thought that cooperation and competition are two sides of the same coin and have a decisive influence on the state of the junior college and the university in our country. This paper will revisit the nature of the university and the problem of the junior college from the perspective of their raison d＇etre amid changes in the social setting.