JAPAN

JAPAN: Business and academia unite to end global slide

Japan's top university and business leaders have announced they will come together for the first time to reverse a steady slide in the country's global standing, writes David McNeill for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The government-sponsored plan will focus on what corporate executives warn is a growing mismatch between the needs of industry and academe, which is damaging Japan's ability to compete abroad. Executives from Toyota, Itochu and 14 other leading companies will meet with the presidents of Japan's 13 best research universities, including Tokyo, Waseda, and Keio, to kickstart the as-yet-unnamed project at a conference next month.
Full report on The Chronicle site