The Present State of Economic Education in Japan

Abstract

The authors describe the present state of economic education in Japan. There is a larger number of undergraduate students who major in economics, but their purpose of studying economics and their economic literacy differ. Precollege economic education is regulated by the course of study and limited by the poor ability of teachers to teach the economics content.

Keywords:

• economics majors
• Japan
• secondary school curriculum
• social studies

JEL Codes:

• A21
• A22
• I21

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for helpful comments and suggestions from William Walstad, Michael Watts, and Ken Rebeck.

Notes

¹N = “national.” P = “private.”

²A “half-elective and half-compulsory” subject is included in this category.

³There are two types of courses, and the number of required credits is different between them.

1. Typically, a university has faculties or schools, then each faculty or school has departments, and then each department sometimes has courses. As for junior colleges, they typically have one or a few departments, and then a department sometimes has a few or several courses.

2. Out of 168 faculties of economics, 36 (21.4 percent) are in national universities, 16 (9.5 percent) are in public universities, and 116 (69.0 percent) are in private universities. In national universities, faculties of economics often have departments of economics and departments of management separately, or combined departments of economics and management. Most students, even in departments of management or those in combined departments of economics and management in faculties of economics, are qualified as bachelor's of economics on graduation, although only a few students in some universities are qualified as bachelor's of management. Conversely, private universities that have faculties of economics can have other faculties of management or commerce, and their students are qualified with different bachelor's degrees according to the particular faculty to which they belong. Because a degree in economics in Japan will include students whose emphasis was management in faculties of economics, the number of economics faculty and the number of economics degrees earned by undergraduates in Japan might not be comparable with those of other countries (see MEXT 2008).

3. A few universities allow an undergraduate student to graduate in three years. As for the school system of Japan, see http://www.mext.go.jp/english/statist/07070310.htm.

4. Two credits are given to one subject that has 15 credit (class) hours in one semester (from April to July or from October to January in an academic year), and one credit hour is 90 minutes for class (lecture). Fifteen credit hours mean 15 instances of class for one subject, and some subjects are given four credits and have 30 credit hours (two semesters).

5. “Half-elective and half-compulsory” subjects means that students should choose, for example, any two subjects from among five specific subjects.

6. In 2006, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan proposed “Basic Adult Capabilities” that adults in general should acquire as generic skills to work in the contemporary society. The capabilities consist of three kinds of ability: ability to step forward, ability to think out, and ability to do teamwork, and the ministry expects that a university cultivates those abilities of undergraduate students in four years of bachelor's courses.

7. The Central Council for Education organized by the MEXT published the report, “Toward Building Bachelor's Course Education,” in 2008. It states that the specialized knowledge and skills in the major field should be taught in the undergraduate course in the near future.