Unlike prestigious national universities that are striving for global competitiveness,local universities tend to play an im-portant role in driving regional development.Under Japan's regional revitalization policy,a strong synergy has been created be-tween the Tokyo Metropolitan Area(TMA)(esp.the outer suburbs)and its local universities,so as to overcome population de-cline and maintain regional vitality.To achieve such a synergistic relationship,local universities in the TMA have adopted two strat-egies,namely,training skilled talents and fulfilling their public service responsibilities.On the one hand,these universities have ad-justed their curricula and programs to regional needs,encouraging graduates to find jobs and settle down in the region.On the other hand,these universities have helped vitalize local economy and solve local problems through knowledge sharing or collaboration with other stakeholders.The lessons we have learned from the Japanese experience also have implications for building synergy between regions and their local universities in China.
the Tokyo Metropolitan Area(TMA)local universitiessynergy between regions and their universitiestalent train-ingpublic service