21世纪日本大学通识教育再出发： 东京大学与京都大学两种模式的比较

Reconstruction of General Education in Japanese Universities in the 21st Century: Comparison of Two Modes between Tokyo University and Kyoto University

The year 1991 witnessed the institutional collapse of general education in Japanese universitiesSince then， the deficiency of elite education has become increasingly evident ，for the universities have not provided rigorous and holistic education enough for the most excellent young people for more than twenty years. Pressed by fierce international competition and the crisis of elite education， Tokyo University and Kyoto University declared， coincidentally in 2013， to launch large-scale reforms on undergraduate education centering on general education. Tokyo University， relying on the collaboration between its general education department and other departments， would establish and improve the mechanism for undergraduate talent cultivation. The new mechanism includes admission under wider discipline category， 2-year general education， choice of major and 2-year professional education. Kyoto University provides systematic curriculum resources of general education for the departments to manage their four-year cultivation， without setting up a new general education department. This comparative study of the two general education modes in top Japanese universities will shed light to the general education reform in China.