National universities scrambling to earn a crust

National universities, which became financially independent administrative corporations in 2004, are making desperate efforts to turn a profit.

Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, which owns many training ships, including four ships with a displacement of more than 100 tons, said fuel costs for the ships totaled 125 million yen in fiscal 2005, up 25 million yen from the previous year, despite efforts to save expenditures.

After it became an independent administrative corporation, the Koto Ward, Tokyo-based university began to allow filmmakers and TV stations to shoot pictures on its campus with the aim of covering some of those expenses.

The campus, which is home to some historical buildings, was used in the recent movie "Hachimitsu to Kuroba" (Honey and Clover) and the TV drama "Nobuta o Purodyusu" (Producing a Wild Pig). The university earned 3 million yen from 19 movie shoots carried out in fiscal 2005.

"We truly welcome these perquisites," a university official said.

Since they became independent administrative agencies in April 2004, national universities, whose profits were formerly supposed to go directly into the government's coffers, are now able to decide how to use the profit for the benefit of their students and for research. On the other hand, they are required to manage themselves more efficiently as government subsidies have been reduced year by year after their institutionalization.

Many other universities develop original products to earn profit and advertise themselves.
Mie University has started to rear expensive brand cattle named Matsusaka-ushi and popularly called Matsusaka-gyu, at its own farm. Officials of the university visited farmers raising Matsusaka-ushi to learn how to rear the cattle. They also visited Kobe University, which sells Kobe-dai (Kobe University) beef.

They provided each cow with a stall and fed them with originally processed straw. Some of the cows will be put on the market this winter.

"We can expect more profit when our beef's value is enhanced with the Matsusaka-ushi brand," an official said. "We'd like to compete with Kobe University."

Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in January set up a pilot shop in the campus, where vegetables and fruit harvested in the university's farm and jam made from these products are sold to local residents once a week. The shop is so popular that people queue in front of it before it opens at noon. Last year, the shop's profit increased by 1.2 million yen in fiscal 2005 from the previous year.

Many universities have also implemented belt-tightening measures.

Kyoto University asks its students to close the lid of the toilets equipped with heating functions to prevent the heat from escaping.

In the university's bathrooms, there are stickers that read, "You can save electricity if you close the lid" and "You can save 800 yen per toilet a year."

Shiga University of Medical Science in July last year installed a water-saving device in almost all the 2,800 faucets in its buildings.

"A penny saved is a penny earned," an official said.

About 30 employees at Utsunomiya University repaired in March an old auditorium built during the Taisho era (1912-1926), spending two days on the job. They saved about 2 million yen by doing the repair work, a task that formerly was commissioned to private firms.

"We learned that we can save a substantial amount of money with the help of the employees," the director of the finance division of the university said.
(Sep. 3, 2006)

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