MGU 2008–18
This chapter continues the ethnographic account of the private university known as ‘MGU’ introduced in the previous chapter. It starts by explaining the most major reform project undertaken at MGU in the mid-2000s: the establishment of a graduate law school. It sets this story in the context of the history of law education in Japan and outlines the system of new graduate law schools introduced in 2004 before telling the story of the establishment and disestablishment of the MGU Law School itself. It gives an outline of the new graduate law schools and then tells the story of the establishment and disestablishment of the MGU Law School. It concludes that in the case of MGU, it was almost certainly better institutionally that the university had opened a law school rather than it had not, even though it closed after only a few years. The rest of the chapter looks at the other reforms which MGU introduced from the mid-2000s. These included reductions in admissions quota, full-time staff and fees, and the rationalization of facilities. Teaching and the student experience were taken much more seriously by the academic staff. Changes were also made in courses and course names. These and other reforms aside, there was also a significant generational shift within MGU’s owning family, as a new generation emerged and as the family itself sought to lead by example in the reform process. Overall, these responses helped MGU to survive the severe challenges it had faced in the mid-2000s and set if on an apparently stable course for the 2020s.