朝令暮改)国立大への「文系学部廃止通知」は3か月ほどで腰砕けに終わりました
2015/09/27
http://ankei.jp/yuji/?n=2110 すぐに役に立つ学問は
http://ankei.jp/yuji/?n=2125 いま大学は
のつづきみたいなものです。日本の未来を知る文科省の迷走ぶりを毎日新聞がかきました。
文系廃止通知:「誤解です」文科省が火消しに躍起
毎日新聞 2015年09月26日 20時39分(最終更新 09月26日 23時46分)
http://mainichi.jp/select/news/20150927k0000m040059000c.html
国立大学の人文社会科学系学部の改組や廃止を求めた通知が波紋を呼び、文部科学省が「火消し」に躍起になっている。6月8日付の文科相名の通知に学術界やマスコミから「文系軽視だ」と批判が上がったため、役所の担当者が「誤解です」とあちらこちらに説明に奔走している。だが通知は英訳され海外にまで広がっており、通知の出し直しを求める声も上がっている。
「人文社会科学系の廃止を心配していたが、説明を聞いて、そうではないと分かってほっとしている」。今月18日、「科学者の国会」と称される「日本学術会議」の大西隆会長(豊橋技術科学大学学長)は安堵(あんど)の表情を浮かべた。学術会議は7月に「人文・社会科学の軽視は大学教育全体を底の浅いものにしかねない」と声明を出していた。
この日開かれた学術会議の幹事会で、文科省の担当局トップ、常盤豊・高等教育局長が30分間にわたって通知の「真意」を説明した。その趣旨はこうだ。
「大学は、将来の予想が困難な時代を生きる力を育成しなければならない。そのためには今の組織のままでいいのか。子どもは減少しており、特に教員養成系は教員免許取得を卒業条件としない一部の課程を廃止せざるをえない。人文社会科学系は、専門分野が過度に細分化されて、たこつぼ化している。養成する人材像が不明確で再編成が必要だ」
局長からの説明を受けた大西会長は報道陣に「改革の必要性はその通り」と話し、理解を示しつつもこう付け加えた。「通知を何度読み返してもそうは理解できない」
通知の経緯は、文科省が大学側と協議しながら2012年度から進めてきた「ミッションの再定義」と呼ぶ作業にさかのぼる。各大学・学部の強みや役割を整理する狙いだった。そして文科省が昨年7月にまとめた文書は、教員養成大学・学部の一部の課程について「廃止を推進」と明記した。人文社会科学系には「組織のあり方の見直しを積極的に推進」としていて、「廃止」の文字はなかった。
ところが、今年6月に大学向けに出した通知は、人文社会科学系を「廃止」の対象に含めてしまい、大きな反発を招いた。文科省幹部は「通知を作った役人の文章力が足りなかった」とミスを認め、自身の名で出した下村博文文科相は今月11日の記者会見で「廃止は人文社会科学系が対象でない。誤解を与える文章だったが、(通知の)一字一句まで見ていない」と釈明した。
日本学術会議の大西会長は「通知を取り換えた方がいい」と話すが、文科省は撤回して再通知する予定はないという。ある文科省幹部は「組織を『見直す』場合も、手続き上はいったん『廃止』してから『新設』する。通知は間違いと言いきれない」と強弁する。【三木陽介】
◇責任うやむやに
元文部科学官僚で京都造形芸術大学の寺脇研教授は「結局今回の騒動の責任がだれにあるのかうやむやで終わらせようとしている。そもそも今回の大学の組織見直しの問題も国立大だけではなく私立も含めた大学全体の問題としてとらえるべきで拙速感は否めない」と話している。
◇通知「国立大学法人等の組織及び業務全般の見直しについて」(今年6月8日)※抜粋
「ミッションの再定義」で明らかにされた各大学の強み・特色・社会的役割を踏まえた速やかな組織改革に努めることとする。
特に教員養成系学部・大学院、人文社会科学系学部・大学院については、18歳人口の減少や人材需要、教育研究水準の確保、国立大学としての役割等を踏まえた組織見直し計画を策定し、組織の廃止や社会的要請の高い分野への転換に積極的に取り組むよう努めることとする。
引用終わり
以下は、安倍政権の近視眼的な通達への批判的立場からの英文報道記事です。
http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2015/08/japans-education-ministry-says-to-axe-social-science-and-humanities/
Japan’s Education Ministry Says to Axe Social Science and Humanities
By Social Science Space | Published: August 25, 2015
The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, second from left, has called for
ending university-level support for studying and training teachers in social
science and humanities.
At least 26 of Japan’s 60 national universities that have departments of the
humanities or the social sciences plan to close those faculties after a
ministerial request from the Japanese government, according to a new survey
of university presidents by The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
A June 8 letter from Hakubun Shimomura, the Minister of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology, to all of Japan’s 86 national universities
and all of the nation’s higher education organizations asks them to take
“active steps to abolish [social science and humanities] organizations or to
convert them to serve areas that better meet society’s needs.” The call
focuses on undergraduate departments and graduate programs that train
teachers, and includes the areas of law and economics.
To back up the request ? which was made “in the light of the decrease of the
university-age population, the demand for human resources and the quality
control of research and teaching institutions and the function of national
universities” ? the ministry pointed to the financial support it provides the
schools in the coming fiscal year.
This focus on bending universities to serve “areas which have strong needs”
(and the implication that social science and humanities can’t help in that
regard) are of a piece with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic ideas, or
‘Abenomics,’ that focus resolutely on direct and immediate industrial and
employment benefits, argues an editorial in The Japan Times. The newspaper
recalled Abe’s remarks in 2014 before the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, in which he said, “Rather than deepening
academic research that is highly theoretical, we will conduct more practical
vocational education that better anticipates the needs of society.” (With
Abenomics now stalling, Abe has also portrayed Japanese science and
technology as in peril, telling the nation’s Council for Science, Technology
and Innovation in June that “the frontlines of Japan’s research fields have
weakened, causing our research capabilities to lag behind others).”
The Times criticized Abe for shortsightedness:
Pursuing studies of humanities and social sciences may not produce quick
economic results. But shunning them risks producing people who are only
interested in the narrow fields of their majors. Studies of literature,
history, philosophy and social sciences are indispensable in creating people
who can view developments in society and politics with a critical eye. In
this sense, Shimomura’s move may be interpreted as an attempt by the
government to produce people who accept what it does without criticism. Abe,
Shimomura and education ministry officials should realize that a decline in
the study of humanities and social sciences will likely hamper the growth of
creative work even in the fields of technology.
According to The Yomiuri Shimbun, of the 26 universities cutting their
humanities and social science offerings, 17 intend to stop recruiting
students in the areas and all of the 26 plan to stop offering so-called “no
certificate” courses that don’t require latent prospective teaches to obtain
a teaching certificate in those areas.
While some organizations, such as the utive board of the Science Council
of Japan, made quick and strident objections to the ministry’s request, even
some ostensible supports of the disciplines couched their support
deferentially. For example, Shojiro Nishio, the new president of Osaka
University (the largest national university in Japan), both backed the idea
of the value but also encouraged them to “think proactively about what you
can do,” reported Kiyomi Arai of The Yomiuri Shimbun.
According to Arai:
Nishio says achievements are not easily seen in the fields of humanities and
social sciences, but these studies are indispensable as they bring diversity
to society. Specializing in data engineering, Nishio is a world leader in
information technology, particularly in analyzing big data. As a researcher,
he believes studies in the humanities field do not tend to have a “strong
focus on responding to the demands of society.”
Not every university was so circumspect, and some notable institutions, such
as the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, said they had no current
intention of complying. The president’s office of Shiga University told
Nomiura that, “Democracy cannot be preserved if the ‘intellectual knowledge’
of humanities and social science studies is cast aside.”
The Science Council of Japan put out a statement late last month expressing
its “profound concern over the potentially grave impact that such an
administrative directive implies for the future of the HSS {humanities and
social sciences] in Japan and the very idea of the university itself,
irrespective of whether it is privately or publicly funded.” That statement
acknowledges that HSS could do a better job of clarifying its value, even as
it stresses how integral HSS is to a “balanced” university and to the larger
Japanese society.
The International Social Science Council (to which the Science Council of
Japan belongs) applauded the council’s statement and for addressing how HSS
is “integral to advancing knowledge on the challenges facing society today,
both in Japan and internationally. They play a unique and vital role in
critically thinking about and assessing the human condition, and for the
understanding, foresight, governance and continued development of
contemporary societies.”