A principle in this period was that Daigaku-ryo (the Bureau of Education under the Ritsuryo system (a system of centralized government based on the Ritsuryo code)--an educational institution of the central government--targeted nobility, while Kokugaku (provincial schools) (educational institution under the Ritsuryo system), as local educational institutions, targeted younger people of gunji (district managers).
この時代、原則的には中央の教育機関であった大学寮は主に貴族の、地方の教育機関であった国学(律令制の教育機関)は郡司の子弟を対象としていた。