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On June 1, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 8th meeting of the Council for Designing 100-Year Life Society at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion took place on compilation work.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we had a discussion towards the compilation of a basic design based on the draft outline that had been prepared. As we work to compile the basic design, I would like us to move forward with our considerations in the following manner.
 
First, in regard to making early childhood education free, we will broadly expand the options for children to receive pre-school education, free of charge, to include even non-authorized facilities, including daycares in kindergartens, regardless of whether they receive eligibility for admission into an authorized childcare center.
 
Second, regarding university reforms, we will set out a clear direction on issues such as clarification of the roles and functions of each university, the improvement of the quality of education by incorporating the opinions of external experts, the visualization of the skills that students acquire, its utilization in the companies’ recruitment activities, the improvement of universities’ management capabilities through the hiring of external board members, and the development of an environment for universities’ collaboration and integration.
 
Third, concerning recurrent education (continuing education), we will formulate concrete policies on the enhancement of education and training grant programs, and recurrent education (continuing education) for engineers and other employees.
 
Fourth, we will work to create an environment to facilitate continued employment beyond the age of 65. We will construct a non-uniform evaluation and remuneration system to reflect the diverse conditions in the employment of the elderly, whereby there exist differences in ability among individuals.
 
I hope to compile a basic plan by the next Council meeting and I would like Minister Motegi to prepare detailed drafts based on the aforementioned policy direction. I would also like to ask the expert members of the Council to continue to engage in active discussions. Thank you.”