高木 航平
University Faculty’s Perceptions of the Public Good and Social Issues:
A Report on the Faculty Survey Results
Kohei Takagi
April,2022
Abstract
This paper presents findings from a questionnaire survery conducted from Janaury to February 2022. The survery asked university faculty members about their perceptions and opinions of various public roles and values of university in Japan. To contrast public good discourses in the international higher education research community with perspectives of general academic staff in Japan, the questions were derived from an extensive literature review conducted by the researcher. The survey found that among various public roles that universities are expected to play, public-good roles – namely, advancing democracy and civic participation, supporting free and critical discussions, and contributiuion to the social justice – were regarded less important than market and economic roles, such as technological innovation.
The researcher analyzed that facuclty members’ perceptions widely varied with their academic disciplines while other individual variables such as age, professional experiences, and cross-disciplinary interactions also have certain effects. The researcher further suggests that there are certain boundaries drawn between the public-good roles, which may imply political engagement in the Japanese context, and social roles, which are contributions to common issues through scientific research and technological innovation. The sense of responsibility for such social roles, however, is also connected to valuing public-good roles even within disciplines with lower recognition of public-good roles. The paper addresses the need for dialogue within university to overcome such gaps should the idea of the public good be explored and recognized as a key feature if not the state of university in Japan.
