HED4806
Assignment 1
2026
, TRANSPLANTING EDUCATION:
JAPAN'S MEIJI-ERA BORROWING OF WESTERN EDUCATIONAL
MODELS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY TRANSFER
─────────────────────────────
Module HED4806: History of Education and Comparative
and International Education
University of South Africa (UNISA)
2026
1. Introduction and Contextual Background
The phenomenon of educational policy borrowing whereby nations deliberately adopt,
adapt, or transplant educational models from other countries occupies a central and
contested space in the field of comparative and international education. Since the mid-
nineteenth century, governments confronting educational crises or seeking rapid
modernisation have frequently looked beyond their borders for models perceived as
successful, efficient, or ideologically compelling. This practice, variously described as
"policy borrowing," "educational transfer," or "policy lending," raises fundamental
questions about the compatibility of educational systems with distinct socio-cultural,
political, and economic environments (Steiner-Khamsi, 2004).
This essay focuses on one of the most extensively documented and analytically rich cases
of educational policy borrowing in global history: Japan's systematic adoption of Western
educational models during the Meiji Restoration period (1868–1912). Following centuries
of self-imposed isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate, the newly established Meiji
government embarked on an urgent and deliberate programme of national modernisation,
recognising education as the cornerstone of state-building, economic development, and
geopolitical competitiveness. In doing so, Japan drew extensively from German, French,
American, and British educational systems, ultimately constructing a hybrid model that
was simultaneously imported and indigenised.
The analysis proceeds through several interconnected dimensions. First, the essay situates
the Japanese case within the broader literature on comparative and international education,
with specific attention to theoretical frameworks of policy lending and borrowing. Second,
Assignment 1
2026
, TRANSPLANTING EDUCATION:
JAPAN'S MEIJI-ERA BORROWING OF WESTERN EDUCATIONAL
MODELS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY TRANSFER
─────────────────────────────
Module HED4806: History of Education and Comparative
and International Education
University of South Africa (UNISA)
2026
1. Introduction and Contextual Background
The phenomenon of educational policy borrowing whereby nations deliberately adopt,
adapt, or transplant educational models from other countries occupies a central and
contested space in the field of comparative and international education. Since the mid-
nineteenth century, governments confronting educational crises or seeking rapid
modernisation have frequently looked beyond their borders for models perceived as
successful, efficient, or ideologically compelling. This practice, variously described as
"policy borrowing," "educational transfer," or "policy lending," raises fundamental
questions about the compatibility of educational systems with distinct socio-cultural,
political, and economic environments (Steiner-Khamsi, 2004).
This essay focuses on one of the most extensively documented and analytically rich cases
of educational policy borrowing in global history: Japan's systematic adoption of Western
educational models during the Meiji Restoration period (1868–1912). Following centuries
of self-imposed isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate, the newly established Meiji
government embarked on an urgent and deliberate programme of national modernisation,
recognising education as the cornerstone of state-building, economic development, and
geopolitical competitiveness. In doing so, Japan drew extensively from German, French,
American, and British educational systems, ultimately constructing a hybrid model that
was simultaneously imported and indigenised.
The analysis proceeds through several interconnected dimensions. First, the essay situates
the Japanese case within the broader literature on comparative and international education,
with specific attention to theoretical frameworks of policy lending and borrowing. Second,
