Reforms in the Personnel and Compensation Systems of National Universities in Japan: Take National University Corporations as Example

A personnel system based on abilitism has recently been promoted in Japan. This study explores the relevant reform strategies on performance and compensation and their effectiveness in national university corporations (NUCs) through document analysis. Firstly, the personnel system and merit pay system in Taiwan are described. Secondly, the personnel and compensation reform policies of the national university corporations (NUCs) in Japan are discussed. The corporatization of national universities has been promoted since 2004, with each reform stage lasting for six years, and the personnel and compensation reform strategies started being proposed since 2013. The personnel management has entered the fourth stage of reform since 2022. Through the discussion on the background and history of the reforms, the study analyzes the important contents of the personnel and compensation management reforms, including the overall “direction and focus of reform”, the specific contents, effectiveness and problems of the reforms in “annual salary system”, “merit pay system”, and “cross-appointment system”, which are then compared with the system in Taiwan. The findings from this study can be concluded as follows: The analysis of the problems of reform suggests that the reforms in personnel and compensation management systems in Taiwan should be based on the consideration of the positioning of higher education institutions, supporting measures should be in place to promote a compensation system based on performancism, and further review should be conducted in order to make reference to the experience of Japan.