The Education Ministry on Friday announced its final decision to turn Japan's 99 national universities into independent administrative institutions, a move that will streamline the management of colleges and give them greater autonomy in budget and personnel matters.
The ministry will create a panel to discuss details of the plan as early as next month, and map out specific procedures by the end of next year, ministry officials said.
At Friday's meeting of heads of national universities held in Tokyo, Education Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said the new system will benefit universities because they will be able to flexibly carry over part of the annual budget to the following fiscal year, and use it freely without specifying what it is spent for.