Abstract: The number of private universities in Japan accounts for three-fourths of the total of universities in Japan,and the number of their enrolled students accounts for about 80 percent of the students in the country,occupying a large proportion of the higher education in Japan.The formation of this pattern has its historical origins before the war and has been influenced by a combination of factors in postwar Japanese society.Baptized by the tide of the times,the Japanese private duo Keio University and Waseda University represent the transformation process of traditional private schools and law schools,and their function in shaping the Japanese nation as a whole is very obvious.After the Second World War,Japan,especially since the 1960s,witnessed a period of booming private universities,with a large number of private universities being founded and absorbing a growing number of students.However,in terms of the private-university development direction,the Japanese government has made some adjustments like enforcing their connection with the local community,which emphasizes their orientation of practical learning.Nowadays,the vast majority of private universities in Japan have no longer pursued a “big and comprehensive” management philosophy,and turn to pursue a style of being “small and excellent”.As a result,this has formed a differential pattern with the national universities and public universities.The development of private colleges and universities in China can learn a lot from it.The most important experience is to make private colleges and universities and public universities build up a stable system of different orientations to promote their healthy development respectively.But at the same time,it is supposed to learn from their lesson and prevent some problems arising in the transformation period.

Key words: private universities, universities in Japan, educational ideas of university, university mottos