Scholars at Japan's universities have long been criticized for enjoying "splendid isolation" within their ivory towers.

But this may no longer be the case, as the university structure cannot remain immune to the dramatic social and economic upheavals roiling the nation.

The global shift toward knowledge-based economies increasingly makes universities -- both as bodies tasked with developing human resources and as providers of research results with potential for commercialization -- a key factor in determining a nation's competitiveness.