The recent news that Kyoto University will publicly seek candidates for its next president from abroad, as well as from Japan, may come as a shock to some in academia. The proposal is a provocative move intended to improve university education in Japan.
Everyone knows that Japanese universities need to become more globalized and competitive, but this is the first time for a national university to consider a presidential candidate from outside Japan.
The proposal is not an easy one to imagine. Japanese universities are deeply entrenched in their present systems, and change comes slowly.