<p>　 The Association of Higher Education Research （JAHER） asked me as the first president of JAHER to contribute an essay as part of the commemoration of JAHER’s twentieth anniversary. Specifically, I was asked to write an essay which described the situation and background factors existing at the time of the establishment of JAHER. To tell the story of the establishment, it is necessary to look back to the beginning of higher education research in Japan.</p><p>　 I was interested in this field when I was a graduate student, but in the 1960s, there were only a few scholars interested in research into higher education. Prior to the establishment of JAHER, a very important role in higher education research was played by the University History Study Group （Daigakushi Kenkyukai）, the translation of the developing stages theory by Martin Trow, and IDE Research Meeting （IDE Bunken Kenkyukai）. A further epoch-making event was the establishment of the Research Institute for Higher Education at Hiroshima University in 1972.</p><p>　 Thereafter a national research center for higher education and research centers in several national and private universities were established continuously one after the other. In addition, Tamagawa University Press began to publish many books on higher education in the latter half of the 1980’s. The first program specifically focused on on higher education research was established in the School of Education, The University of Tokyo, in 1992, and I was the first professor in charge of this program.</p><p>　 Looking back at the history of higher education research, it is understandable that the conditions and environment favoring the establishment of JAHER matured in the latter half of the 1990s. The establishment of JAHER in 1997 was the legacy of the zeal and efforts of the younger generation of higher education researchers. At that time, the membership of JAHER comprised not only many researchers in the sociology of education but also various kinds of scholars in other branches of education. It is legitimate to call it a kind of “Agora.”</p><p>　 The situation surrounding higher education research has changed drastically since the beginning of this century. The central focus of the change is a shift to the market-driven reform of higher education against the background of a neo-liberal ideology, while the expectations placed in higher education researchers have become wider, and reforms have dealt with very pragmatic problems. We need to reflect on and investigate these changes on the occasion of JAHER’s twentieth anniversary in order to be able to guide JAHER’s future development.</p>