大学教育改革のあり方を「現場」から出発して再考する : 京都大学における学問共同体の現存と押し迫る時代の要請

Abstract

The first purpose of this article was to demonstrate the progress of current university educational reform in Japan. In the first stage of reform, the educational systems such as credit system, curriculum, FD (Faculty Development), student evaluations of teaching and so on, were rapidly adopted to improve and develop university education. However, in most cases, they were not examined by an index of educational effect focusing on the development of student learning. Therefore, the second stage of university educational reform should reconsider the educational systems adopted in the first stage as well as considering the adoption of additional changes. From the perspective of student learning in education, however a serious problem arises: student learning takes place in extremely diverse ways and under diverse conditions, depending on whether universities are research universities or mainly teaching institutions, the characteristics and the condition of employment rates after graduation. I will argue that we should consider the university educational reform in the second stage starting from our own field. In the last half of the article, I examined my own educational field following this perspective. As a result, it was shown from my research results and those of my colleagues that an academic community still remains in Kyoto University, not only in the laboratories but also in the classrooms. It was called "an academic educational perspective." It is regarded as a unique characteristic of Kyoto University as a research university, which distinguishes it from other general universities that adopt a "classroom educational perspective." Kyoto students learn embedded in the context of academic community. On the other hand, Kyoto University is now struggling with the way to tackle an increasing number of students who have been schooled and who cannot adjust themselves to the learning in the academic community. In addition, there are the pressing demands of the times: the privatization of universities and the globalization of education. In the conclusion, I presented ideas for innovative reform to overcome the present difficulties without losing the traditional educational ethos of Kyoto University.