Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (文部科学省, Monbu-kagaku-shō), also known as MEXT, Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan.[1] Their goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community.[2][3] They are responsible for funding research under their jurisdiction, some of which includes: children's health in relation to home environment,[4] delta-sigma modulations utilizing graphs,[5] gender equality in sciences,[6] and other general research for the future.[7]

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
文部科学省
Monbu-kagaku-shō

MEXT Headquarters
Agency overview
FormedJanuary 2001 (2001-01)
Preceding agencies
  • Ministry of Education
  • Science and Technology Agency
Jurisdiction Japan
Headquarters3–2–2 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8959, Japan
Ministers responsible
Parent agencyGovernment of Japan
Child agencies
Websitewww.mext.go.jp

History

The Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871.[8] In January 2001, the former Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (文部省, Monbu-shō) and the former Science and Technology Agency (科学技術庁, Kagaku-gijutsu-chō) merged to become the present MEXT.

Organization

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology currently is lead by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Under that position is two State Ministers, two Parliamentary Vice-Ministers, and Administrative Vice-Minister, and two Deputy Ministers. Beyond that the organization is divided as follows.[1]

Minister's Secretariat

The Minister's Secretariat is the department that manages general policies that affect the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as a whole. These functions include many administrative jobs such as auditing policies, community relations, and overall human resource management for domestic and international relations alike.

Director-General for International Affairs

The Director-General for International Affairs, according to Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's site, is the main point of contact between Japan's National Commission and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The collective goal of the two organizations is to create mutual, sustainable development through education, science, and culture.

Department of Facilities Planning and Disaster Prevention

The Department of Facilities Planning and Disaster Prevention is in charge of focusing on the ability of school facilities to reduce damage caused by disasters such as earthquakes. On top of this, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's site, also describes part of their duties as promoting universities' endeavors in educational and research activities.

Education departments
Japanese Students in Front of Tokyo station, Marunouchi

These are the segments of the Ministry with focus on the Education portions of organization.[1]

Education Policy Bureau

The Education Policy Bureau as a department upholds the concept of lifelong learning, introduced in the Basic Act on Education. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology describes this department's duties as designing educational policy based on comprehensive and objective evidence.

Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau

The Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau is in charge of enhancing the educational development of students progressing through preschool to upper secondary schools, or any equivalent.

Higher Education Bureau

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology describes the Higher Education Bureau as a department that focuses on promoting the education of undergraduate and graduate schools. This includes overseeing permission of grants, teacher quality, as well as the selection and admission of both domestic and abroad students.

Sports and Culture Departments
74th National Sports Festival of Japan, during a 400 meter race

These are the segments of the Ministry with focus on the Sports and Culture portions of organization.[1]

Japan Sports Agency

The Japan Sports Agency is tasked with the promotion of physical education and health, as well as maintaining the country's ability to compete in international athletics.

Agency for Cultural Affairs

The Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs tries to create a culture in the country that encourages participation in cultural activities and the arts. Their goal is to achieve a "Nation Based on Culture and Art".

Science and Technology Departments

These are the segments of the Ministry with focus on the Science and Technology portions of organization.[1]

Science and Technology Policy Bureau
The Institute of Medical Science Tokyo Japan General Research Building 0104

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's site regards the duties of the Science and Technology Policy Bureau as the department in charge of the promotion of science and technology in the country. The scope of the department includes students as well as established professionals.

Research Promotion Bureau

The Research Promotion Bureau is a department that focuses on development of scientific research, as well as research in fields including technology and physics.

Research and Development Bureau

The Research and Development Bureau is slightly different than the Research Promotion Bureau as this department focuses on social problems including energy and the environment. Consequentially, this department would focus on exploration in space and deep sea.

Activities and funded research

While the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology currently contains multiple agencies, primarily a congregation of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, it actually began as the Ministry of Education. Over the years, Japan separately created each of the agencies that would eventually combine to make the current organization. Nonetheless, each department of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology researches programs and institutions to fund.[1]

Children's health in relation to home environment

During this research, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology concluded there were many intertwined dependencies between family homes, their environment, and how it impacts a child's growth and maturity.[4]

Delta-sigma conversion for graphing

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology have also been responsible in directly, although not fully, funding research into delta-sigma modulation, which in summary describes the graphing of analog-digital information to aid in the conversion of the two means.[5]

Educational research

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, were able to get their funding increased successfully through the years. They did so with the aid of one of their subgroups, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The additional funds were likely aided in approval due to their source coming from national bonds rather than taxes. The programs, funded by the increased budget, include projects in new materials, molecular-scale surface dynamics, next-generation process technology, computer science, synthesis-based chemical engineering science, micro-mechatronics (micromachinery), biotechnology, human genome research, cell signaling, bioinformatics, brain research, Structural biology, life sciences, developmental biology, and biomedical engineering.[7]

Educational programs

MEXT is one of three ministries that run the JET Programme. It also offers the Monbukagakusho Scholarship, also known as the MEXT or Monbu-shō scholarship. The Ministry sets standards for the romanization of Japanese.[9]

In cooperation with the Japanese Student Services Organization (JASSO), the ministry further funds the prestigious JASSO scholarship for international students which has been described as the "Japanese Fulbright program".[10][11] It offers financial support of up to 80.000¥ per month for the top 1% of students of any foreign country for studies at a Japanese university.[12]

MEXT provides the Children Living Abroad and Returnees Internet (CLARINET) which provides information to Japanese families living abroad.[13]

MEXT sends teachers around the world to serve in nihonjin gakkō, full-time Japanese international schools in foreign countries.[14] The Japanese government also sends full-time teachers to hoshū jugyō kō supplementary schools that offer lessons that are similar to those of nihonjin gakkō or those which each have student bodies of 100 students or greater.[15] In addition, MEXT subsidizes weekend schools which each have over 100 students.[16]

See also

Notes
  1. "MEXT : MEXT". www.mext.go.jp. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  2. Johnston, David. "Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: Undergraduate Scholarship". Verge Magazine: Volunteer abroad, work and travel, study abroad. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  3. Swinbanks, David (September 1996). "Postdoctoral positions galore in Japan". Nature. 383 (6596): 200. doi:10.1038/383200a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  4. Bando, Kumiko (2011). "Efforts of MEXT (the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)". Trends in the Sciences (in Japanese). 16 (8): 24–27. doi:10.5363/tits.16.8_24. ISSN 1884-7080.
  5. Imoda, N.; Azuma, S.; Kitao, T.; Sugie, T. (2017-07-01). "Delta-sigma conversion for graph signals **This work was partly supported by Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research #16K14283 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan". IFAC-PapersOnLine. 20th IFAC World Congress. 50 (1): 9303–9307. doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2017.08.1177. ISSN 2405-8963.
  6. 宏之, 萬谷 (2011). "文部科学省における取組状況". 学術の動向. 16 (12): 12_50–12_51. doi:10.5363/tits.16.12_50.
  7. Swinbanks, David (1996-09-01). "Japan to double university project grants". Nature. 383 (6597): 206. doi:10.1038/383206a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  8. Reischauer, Edwin O. et al. (2005), The Japanese Today, p.187.
  9. "Archived copy" ローマ字のつづり方. 文部科学省 (in Japanese). Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2013-05-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "JASSO Scholarship". JASSO. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  11. "Scholarships - Mannheim University". Mannheim University. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  12. "JASSO Scholarship". JASSO. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  13. "CLARINETへようこそ." MEXT. Retrieved on April 17, 2015.
  14. Ching, Lin Pang (1995). "Controlled internationalization: The case of kikokushijo from Belgium". International Journal of Educational Research. 23. p. 48. doi:10.1016/0883-0355(95)93534-3. The majority of teachers are sent from Japan by the Ministry of Education.
  15. "Section 4. Well-Being of Japanese Nationals Overseas" (Archive). Diplomatic Bluebook 1987 Japan's Diplomatic Activities. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved on March 8, 2015.
  16. Doerr, Musha Neriko (Brookdale Community College) and Kiri Lee (Lehigh University). "Contesting heritage: language, legitimacy, and schooling at a weekend Japanese-language school in the United States" (Archive). Language and Education. Vol. 23, No. 5, September 2009, 425–441. CITED: p. 426.

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