The Impact of Introducing University Research Administrators (URAs) into Japanese National Universities

Japanese national universities have traditionally operated with a government-allocated management expense grant (hereinafter, the grant). However, due to several factors weakening their financial bases, including reductions in the total size of the grant and general price increases, national universities now face the need to improve financial health by diversifying income sources. Consequently, academic staff striving to obtain funding find themselves with less time for research. In this context, university research administrators (URAs) have attracted significant attention as a means of revitalizing research capabilities by relieving academic staff of many administrative tasks. However, research on URAs remains underdeveloped. This study aims at clarifying the status of URAs in Japanese national universities by conducting a correlation analysis using various evaluation indicators to determine how URAs, directly and indirectly, contribute to strengthening research capabilities and improving reputation management. The results show that the number of URAs in national universities positively impacts the amount of academic research funding acquired and the volume of research outputs. URAs also contribute to a university’s reputation. Therefore, the position of URAs in national universities is expected to become increasingly important.