Japanese institutes wary of increased autonomy

摘要

Japanese scientists are expressing concern about the government's decision to carry out a large-scale reorganization of national research institutes attached to science-related ministries. The move will include transforming more than half of the institutes into semi-autonomous 'agencies' with administrative independence from the government (see Nature389,897; 1997). The government says the change is needed to turn the institutes into genuine centres of excellence. But in late August an association representing the directors of Japan's 93 national research institutes released a report arguing that research institutes are fundamentally different from other government organizations, and that certain management procedures — especially those with strong emphasis on performance-related targets — would be inappropriate for them.