私立大学等経営強化集中支援事業は経営を改善するか

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the causal effect on management improvement in private universities that are selected as the site for government-sponsored support projects. The paper concludes with the following three points. First, private universities are selected for management strengthening support projects if they are struggling to meet their capacity, while controlling for the influence of strong environmental factors such as prestige and scale. This selection process can be positively evaluated in the sense that the distribution of support projects is consistent with their purpose, while removing the influence of factors that are difficult to change through the university's individual efforts. Second, though, by examining the causal effects of these interventions, it is difficult to say that the objectives of the policy have been fully achieved. This is because the universities selected for treatment have not been the site of improved management. Third, if the introduction of financial subsidies is an attempt to improve the management of a private university, the current allocation is insufficient for this purpose. Furthermore, the management of local small and medium-sized universities may have developed a structural dependence on such subsidies, so allocation methods must be considered more carefully. These conclusions may imply that the gap between the original intentions of the management improvement intervention plan and the practical outcomes of its implementation is expanding.