عنوان

The Super Global University Funding Project :

TLets745886

The Super Global University Funding Project :

[Thesis]

Black, Grant

case study at an elite Japanese university

Goodwin, John ; O'Connor, Henrietta

University of Leicester

2018

D.Soc.Sci.

University of Leicester

2018

Using a critical realist approach to case study research, the thesis explores how education reform policy is translated into practice. The thesis looks at a single institution to investigate the complex structures at work in the translation of policy in situ. Specifically it analyses the translation of policy funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) under the Super Global University Project (SGUP) at an elite Japanese university, the University of Tsukuba, a national university located one hour east of Tokyo. The case study is an exemplifying case with elements of being a revelatory case for internationalisation-focused education reform policy in Japan. The methodology employs mixed methods for an educational-management, critical realist-type case study. The research brings to light previously obscure theoretical relationships from the vantage point of an embedded researcher engaged on-site with reform target implementation and translation all throughout the initial adoption phase of the Super Global project. The thesis focuses on policy translation in a specific university setting; however, this process does not happen in isolation. It is important to place the university in Japan in a global context of relations to networks for university reform, the labour market and the youth-to-work transition. One core theory to emerge is that on the macro level of policy there is a globalising process to university reform; relatedly, on the micro level of the department, organisational management is the essential operative variable at the intersection of university reform, the changing needs of the labour market, and increased risk in the youth-to-work transition. Elias' figurational sociology is applied as an heuristic to extend this theory. In combination, the theories to emerge from the case study serve to inform the judgements and decisions of practitioners or policy-makers in this area and have implications on the levels of policy, institution, department, and student.

Black, Grant

O'Connor, Henrietta

Goodwin, John

University of Leicester

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y