Chapter 7. Japanese experience with centres of excellence

This chapter describes two examples of research excellence initiatives (REIs) in Japan: the Global Centres of Excellence (GCOE) Programme, which aims to strengthen the education and research functions of graduate schools and improve the development of human resources in doctoral programmes, and the World Premier International Research Centres (WPI) Initiative, which aims to create world-class research centres, with a superior research environment and extremely high research standards, by supporting systemic reform at universities. It presents the background and historical development of the two programmes, describes the programmes and ends with a general overview.