By Suji Nakamura
Professor of Engineering
University of California at Santa Barbara

Universities are the cradle of innovation, not private-sector companies whose first priority must be to pursue profit. However, the harsh university entrance-exam system used in Japan and many other Asian countries is not a good tool for attracting creative students and developing their instincts. This system seems to be geared toward producing workers for manufacturing industries.

I have been deeply impressed by the difference between the U.S. and Japanese educational systems. Compared with Japanese students, U.S. students have far more freedom of choice and can enter universities easily. By contrast, Japanese students have a lot of stress and little chance to develop their unique abilities. Once Japanese students enter a university, they cannot move easily to another school if they find that their school doesn't suit them. In Japan, government bureaucrats control the colleges.

The rigidity seen in the educational system spreads to business sectors as well. Countries like South Korea and Taiwan also have harsh university entrance exams, but there people can launch a new company much more easily than they can in Japan.

If Japan abolishes its exam system, the whole country could undergo a profound shift. But this kind of change could take more than a generation to take hold.

-Written by Yoshiko Hara, Japan bureau chief of EE Times, based on an interview conducted with Nakamura in Japanese.